It's not about wins and losses this early in the season. It's about fine-tuning your game.
That may be true. But it's still frustrating to come so close to a perfect tournament and then to see it dissolve so quickly.
Just one game away from a 3-0 weekend, the women's volleyball team couldn't hold off a huge comeback from Colgate.
Princeton (3-3) faced Canisius, LaSalle and the host team at the Colgate Invitational in Hamilton, N.Y. this weekend. The Tigers shone in some aspects of their play, but at times miscues revealed early-season growing pains.
The tournament saw the return of senior outside hitter Kellie Cramm, who had been fighting mononucleosis for the past few weeks. The team was, of course, excited to see her back out on the court.
"It was great to have her back," junior middle blocker Alex Brown said. "Kellie obviously brought some force out there."
Princeton opponents beware: Cramm will only get stronger as Ivy League crunch-time approaches. This weekend, though, she was still not completely back in shape — she had only been practicing since Wednesday.
"I'm still a little worn out, but I'm better," she said. "It was a test of patience, just hard to pace myself."
Cramm's season and the Tigers' weekend opened Friday against the Golden Griffins (6-8). Princeton dropped the first game, 30-25, a loss the team attributed to first-game jitters.
With the help of hard hits from Cramm and sophomore outside hitter Lauren Grumet, the team woke up and buried Canisius in the second game, 30-22. Cramm started her senior year off right with 14 kills, while Grumet led the team with 21 kills. Though the Golden Griffins put up a hard fight in the third and fourth games, the Tigers were able to hold them off. Princeton walked off the court with 31-29 and 30-28 wins in those games to seal its 3-1 victory.
The next day, the Tigers showed no sign of first-game jitters. Junior outside hitter Ashley Weber led the Princeton attack in the slaughter of LaSalle — she chalked up 19 kills over the course of the match for a .621 kill percentage. Unfortunately for the Explorers, Weber and her teammates would not let many balls hit the floor, either. Four Tigers posted double-digit dig statistics.
Princeton took each of the first two games by over 10 points, an impressive feat under rally scoring. LaSalle rallied in the third game, but the Tigers held them off for a 30-16, 30-19, 30-28 victory.
Later that afternoon, Princeton took on the tournament host. While a 2-11 record does not usually suggest a tough contest, the Raiders proved to be more than what the Tigers bargained for.
The match started off well enough for Princeton. A pair of victories, 30-27 and 30-22, left the Tigers just 30 points away from a sweep of Colgate. The Raiders, however, had a different plan.
Colgate came out onto the court with a vengeance in the third game. A complacent Tiger team could not finish off the game with enough force — a fatal mistake. The Raiders took that game, 30-25.
"We just let them sneak up on us," Cramm said.
Princeton was unable to shift the momentum back in its favor, and Colgate took advantage of its opponents' fatigue in the final two games, 30-27 and 15-9.
"We got tired, lost momentum, and it was all downhill from there," Cramm said. "A lack of conditioning hurt us."
Even with that bitter taste in their mouths, the Tigers saw much to build on as they continue to gel as a team.
"It was a dynamic weekend," Brown said. "We've got a lot of potential and great team chemistry. We've just got to work on stupid errors."
Despite the team's disappointing finish, several Princeton players received individual honors over the weekend. Sophomore setter Jenny Senske and Weber both made the all-tournament team, and Grumet was named tournament MVP.
The Tigers hit the road again this weekend for their last of a trio of tournaments. They travel to Huntington, Pa., for the Juniata Tournament. The weekend will be Princeton's last chance to do some more fine-tuning before it opens its Ivy season against last year's league champion Penn on Oct. 3.
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