W. volleyball vies for first on N.Y. road trip

To be the best, you have to beat the best, and women's volleyball has satisfied that requirement so far this season.

Already with wins over last season's champion, Penn, and this season's leader Harvard, Princeton (13-4 overall, 4-1 Ivy League) is a half-game back of the first-place Crimson (10-6, 5-1) in the Ivy race after a thrilling 3-2 (30-25, 30-19, 26-30, 25-30, 15-8) victory Saturday at Dillon Gym. Now the team turns its sights to Cornell (10-6, 4-2) and Columbia (2-16, 0-6), knowing that two wins would, at the very least, keep the Tigers on track for first-place.

Though the Big Reds tend to be one of the doormats of Ivy League sports, the team is off to a hot start this season, right on Princeton's heels for second place, and will be no pushover Friday night in Ithaca.

Cornell is second in the Ivies in hitting percentage (.231) and is leading the conference in assists per game (13.91), kills per game (15.13), and blocks per game (2.84).

These numbers mean the Big Red is arguably the best offensive team in the conference, and the Tigers will have to be alert defensively and will need to avoid giving Cornell any free-ball opportunities.

Sophomore Alaina Town and junior Heather Young — who is also the league leader in blocks per game (1.43) — are first and second, respectively, in the Ivy League in hitting percentage, and will look to paint the lines once again this weekend.

The weapons don't stop there, though. Sophomore Elizabeth Bishop leads the league in kills per game with 4.78.

One advantage the Tigers may have is that they may be catching a streaky team during a downhill slide. After starting the season with three losses, the Big Red rattled off nine straight wins, dropping only three games in the process. In the last four matches, however, the team is just 1-3, a stretch that includes both of Cornell's Ivy losses.

Columbia should not prove as much of a challenge Saturday night in New York. The Lions have sevenand nine-match losing streaks sandwiched around their only two wins of the year.

Looking toward the bottom of the standings is a good idea in general, no matter what statistic one is seeking about Columbia. The Lions rank last in the Ivy League in hitting percentage (.143), opponents' hitting percentage (.246), kills per game (12.65) and blocks per game (1.08) and second-to-last in assists per game (11.38) and service aces (1.28).

Perhaps both a sign of the team's ineptitude and of good things to come is the fact that the only Lions on the league individual leaderboard are freshmen. Cassie Ligh is ninth in the Ivies with 3.22 kills per game, Shannon Hunzicker (9.02) and Blakely Low (7.65) are seventh and eighth in assists per game, and Kelli Hogan is 10th with 3.58 digs per game.

Columbia has not won an Ivy League match since 2002 and has just one winning Ivy season (2001) in program history.

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Princeton boasts a strong record and the reigning Ivy Player of the Week in senior middle blocker Alex Brown. The statistics beyond the record, however, do not seem to match.

As a team, the Tigers are fifth place or lower in hitting percentage (.196), assists per game (12.63), kills per game (14.33) and blocks per game (1.86).

It is the defense which has been the key for Princeton. The team leads the league in two defensive categories — opponents' hitting percentage (.164) and digs per game (19.96).

Strangely, the Tigers are all over the individual leaderboard in offensive categories. Brown is third in hitting percentage (.303), junior outside hitter Lauren Grumet is second in kills per game (3.76) and junior setter Jenny Senske is fourth in assists per game (11.10).

Sophomore libero Jenny McReynolds is second in the Ivies in digs with 5.79 per game.

Coming out of Fall Break Princeton will host a pair of Ivy matches at Dillon. Yale (8-5, 3-2) visits campus Oct. 29 and Brown (6-10, 3-2) tries its luck against the Tigers on Oct. 30.

Princeton is by no means in the clear for the Ivy title. Home matches against Cornell and Columbia follow the next weekend, and Princeton must face road games against Harvard and Dartmouth before the season finale against Penn.