W. volleyball extends win streak with two victories

This past weekend was undoubtedly one of the most important and successful weekends the women's volleyball team has had this year. With dual away games against Ivy League foes Dartmouth and Harvard and the race for the league title about to break open, the weekend was set up to make or break the team's season.

Since women's volleyball, like most other Ivy League sports, has no postseason league tournament but depends instead upon final interleague rankings to determine the winner, every Ivy League matchup is akin to a tournament game.

Had the Tigers lost both of these matches, they would have come out of the weekend with a record of 2-3, which would have plopped them three losses out of the race. Instead, after two wins they hopped off the bus in Princeton with a record of 4-1, good enough for third place overall and leaving them only one loss behind undefeated Cornell and Penn.

The first match of the weekend was against Dartmouth, a meeting the oddsmakers would have handed to the Tigers but that the team knew better than to relax for. The opening game was a nail-biter, with tie scores at 16 points and later at 26. Princeton warded off the surging Big Green, emerging with a final score of 30-27.

Game two began as an equally close contest, but then the Tiger servers stepped up. Senior outside hitter Kellie Cramm came up with a six-point service rally and sophomore outside Lauren Grumet chipped in five straight of her own to erase both of Dartmouth's serious attempts at taking the lead. Once again, the more powerful Princeton team closed out the victory with efficient form, 30-25.

Game three was an inexplicable spike in a flatline of Big Green success, as Dartmouth totally dominated and produced a 30-19 victory. Fortunately, the Tigers quickly squelched any hopes of turning that single victory into something meaningful, emerging on top of another close game, 30-27. In spite of the impressive service rallies, this match was definitely not a shining example of stellar Princeton offense. In fact, the Tigers actually ended up with a lower hitting percentage than the team they beat.

This was, instead, a defensive victory, sparked by the play of freshman libero Jenny McReynolds. For lack of a less hackneyed analogy, McReynolds has been a match to the flame of the Princeton defense this season. Her career-high 37 digs against Dartmouth is only the highest point thus far on what has already been a spectacular first season.

The Dartmouth win, while gratifying, was somewhat expected. A win in the Harvard match a night later would be harder to come by.

As against the Big Green, a single Princeton player stepped up versus Harvard, and her efforts combined with a solid effort from her teammates to produce a crucial victory.

If Jenny McReynolds was the heroine of the Dartmouth game, junior middle Alex Brown played that role against the Crimson. With 17 kills, 10 digs and eight solo blocks, Brown produced the kind of offensive and defensive excellence that illustrates what the Tigers will need to become a championship team. That kind of championship production was just what Princeton needed on this occasion, because anything less might have left the team on the wrong side of this incredibly close match.

The first game, though close all the way, went to Harvard by a score of 30-27. As if to prove the parity of the two squads, the Tigers came back and won game two by exactly the same score.

Things began to slide for the Tigers in game three. Princeton hit a negative percentage in this game, virtually handing the Crimson a 30-21 victory by virtue of the Tigers' inability to score. Earlier in the season, this defeat might have been enough to throw the Tigers off their rhythm and seal the match — but not any longer.

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Princeton rebounded instantly, producing a 30-26 win in game four to force the shorter game five, which the team promptly won by a score of 15-9. The Tigers played as if they had been under control all evening, pummeling Harvard out of the gym like it was their right (which, in this reporter's opinion, it most certainly was).

At 4-1 in the Ivy League, the Tigers now must chase down and overtake two undefeated squads. They get their first chance at home Friday, when Cornell comes to town to meet this dominant Princeton squad.