Brown, Yale first Ivy victims for w. volleyball

The Yale Bulldogs, women's volleyball's second opponent in two days, were essentially helpless Saturday afternoon against Princeton's balanced hitting, solid passing and typically excellent digging. It was painfully obvious that the Elis lacked both a dip in their hip or any funk in their trunk, as Princeton (9-5 overall, 2-1 Ivy League) made short work of Yale (8-4, 1-2) to allow the game to let out in time for the end of the George Clinton show.

The victory came a day after Princeton's equally dominating 3-1 win over Brown.

"The wins boosted our confidence after the loss to Penn," sophomore setter Jenny Senske said. "It's hard to start off with a loss. This weekend got us back on track."

Not pretty

The match against the Elis wasn't a pretty one. Princeton hit only .190 for the series, but that was still far better than Yale's dismal .132. In game three, in fact, the Bulldogs only managed a hitting percentage of .059. You can't win if you can't convert, and Yale simply couldn't get past its own errors and the Princeton defense to score anything. Led, as usual, by freshman outside hitter Jenny McReynolds' 18 kills (a total sophomore outside hitter Lauren Grumet also matched) the Tigers were their normal stingy selves against the opposing squad's attack.

The offense, though not as splendidly balanced as it was on Friday night, got the job done quite nicely. The double-pronged attack of Grumet's 15 kills and senior outside hitter Kellie Cramm's 16 knocked the Bulldogs back on their heels early. Game one was a simple Tiger victory, 30-23.

Game two was also Princeton's to win, but Yale managed to block Grumet's potential game-winner and ride the momentum from that goal-line stand to a 33-31 victory. From then on out it was Tiger time. With Senske's 48 assists showing the way, the Princeton hitters wasted no time showing the Bulldogs the way back to New Haven. There were no more serious threats from Yale as the Tigers won games three and four, 30-21 and 30-23.

Bear hunting

Against Brown on Friday evening, Grumet led all players with 19 kills and three other Tigers had double-digit kills as Princeton beat Brown (1-10, 0-3) in four games.

The Tigers won a tightly-contested first game, 30-25, before taking advantage of some sloppy play by the Bears in the second game, winning 30-18 to take a 2-0 advantage. Brown had a negative attack percentage in the game two loss.

Princeton went into the third game with a chance to sweep and held the lead late before letting the Bears back into the game. Brown rallied and won game three, 30-28.

After letting that game slip away, the Tigers responded by picking up a solid 30-23 victory in the fourth game to take the match three games to one.

Junior middle blocker Alex Brown picked up 11 kills for Princeton in the win and had an impressive .550 attack percentage. Cramm and junior outside hitter Ashley Weber each added 12 kills.

Senske continued her good play, gathering 45 assists, while McReynolds led the team in digs with 18.

Though the Tigers were able to win both matches, they failed to sweep both teams, dropping a game both days. "In both matches we let down a little bit," Senske said. "We reached the level of intensity we were looking for. But going to four games just makes us realize that there is potential for loss if we let our guard down."

The Tigers have a week to prepare for their next two opponents, Harvard and Dartmouth. Princeton went 1-1 against the Crimson last season, and has little trouble mustering up intensity against a rival as big as Harvard. The Tigers have had an easy time with Dartmouth in the past, though the Big Green have improved this season and cannot be overlooked.

After several weeks of adjustment, the team has finally gelled, as this weekend's games proved.