Men's volleyball swept by ninth-ranked Penn State

Every league has its New York Yankees, its L.A. Lakers, its Brazilian national soccer team — one annoyingly dominant squad. Unfortunately for the men's volleyball team, it was its conference's hated ruler that the team found itself facing last weekend, with its playoff hopes on the line no less. Playing at Rec Hall in University Park, Pa., the Tigers (14-10 overall, 7-7 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, Tait Division) fell in three games to conference rival Penn State (21-5, 13-0).

The Nittany Lions recently wrapped up a perfect season in the Tait Division, and are currently ranked ninth overall in the nation. Though there is no shame in losing to such a team, the loss was painful for the Tigers. This game represented their last chance at attaining home advantage in the first round of the playoffs, so the team will now have to open on the road.

With such a fate on the line, Princeton came in by no means ready to hand the game over. If Penn State wanted to prove its reputation, it was going to have to earn it.

In fact, the Tigers took the first lead of the match, jumping out to a 5-3 advantage. But then the other foot dropped. The Nittany Lions went on an 18-4 run, blasting aside any remaining hopes for a quick Tiger victory by grabbing a dominating 21-9 lead.

Overwhelmed

Princeton was overwhelmed by Penn State's combination of near-perfect offense and stifling defense. By the time the dust had settled, the Nittany Lions had taken the game, 30-17.

The most telling statistic of the game was hitting percentage. Penn State totaled an excellent .528, while the Tigers actually finished in negative numbers, at -.182. It is remarkable that Princeton was able to score the seventeen points it did.

The Nittany Lions' dominating performance in the first game by no means settled the match. With their playoff hopes on the line, the Tigers were prepared to fight to the bitter end.

Princeton once again grabbed an early lead, but this time clung to it ferociously when Penn State mounted its comeback. One-point swings and ties were the name of the game as the Tigers battled to prevent the Nittany Lions from taking a decisive two-game lead. Unfortunately, the team could only hold out so long. At 12-12 Penn State took the lead with a kill and never looked back. Slowly, point by point, any hope the Tigers still held for home advantage slipped away. The lead eventually reached 22-14, and the game was never close again as the Nittany Lions went on to win, 30-23.

Things looked bleak heading into game three, and it didn't help that Penn State took a 5-0 lead to start things off. Proving its resilience once more, however, Princeton came back to bring the lead to only two, at 13-11.

Once again, however, the valiant effort failed, as the Nittany Lions warded off the comeback and wrapped up the victory, 30-22.

Freshman middle Brian Hamming and senior opposite Dennis Alshuler led the squad with eight kills apiece and sophomore middle Sean Vitousek added five blocks, but it was simply not enough against the Penn State onslaught. No matter what the Tiger attack tried the Nittany Lion's defense was there, finishing with a decisive 12.5 team blocks. For all their efforts, there was little the squad could do to win the game.

Princeton will finish the regular season against New Jersey Institute of Technology at home this Saturday. Its playoff position, however, is completely decided. The Tigers will travel to Juniata as the fifth seed when the single-elimination EIVA tournament begins.

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Princeton and Juniata have met twice already this season, and the results look bad on the surface: both games ended in a 3-1 Tiger loss. Those numbers, however, belie the actual difference between the two teams, which is almost nonexistent. Road game or no road game, no one is writing Princeton off for this one.

If the Tiger defense holds up and the offense can avoid mental errors, victory in the first round may very well be in the cards. From there it depends on the fate of other teams. All Princeton can do now is take it one game at a time.