Women's volleyball defeats one of two conference opponents

If you're going to make mistakes, make them early.

Women's volleyball made its first conference mistake on Friday against Brown, losing 3-1 on the road. The following night, however, they came back strong, earning a thrilling 3-2 victory over Yale in New Haven.

The loss against Brown is a tough one to take for the Tigers, as Princeton is among the favorites to win the conference title. It is especially disappointing because Brown finished last season with a 3-11 Ivy League record. While Brown is certainly a better team this year, it is not in the top tier of Ivy League teams.

Since the loss came early in the conference schedule, there is a chance for redemption.

The match started poorly for the Tigers. Princeton dropped the first game, 30-27, and got handled again in the second, 30-24. For a brief moment it looked like Princeton might turn it around, as the Tigers began to resemble their old selves, winning game three, 30-25.

With their backs still against the wall and facing defeat, Princeton moved to the fourth game intent on pushing it to five. The game was easily the most intense of the match, coming down to a thrilling 30-28 decision. Unfortunately, it was Princeton with the 28, meaning the Bears took the 3-1 victory.

The loss was a wakeup call to a team that crushed conference rival Penn in last weekend's Ivy opener. "Friday made us realize that we have to treat each match like it [would determine] who the Ivy League champion will be," sophomore libero Jenny McReynolds said. "We came to Brown with the defeat of Penn in our heads, a little cocky and thinking that they were just another team we had to beat."

Although Princeton didn't play up to its potential, much of the credit must be given to a tough Brown team that came ready to play.

"They played great and had solid defense and very strong hitters," senior outside hitter Lauren Grumet said. "They capitalized on all of our weaknesses that night."

For the team, the most meaningful part of the weekend was not the loss, but the way they came back from the loss the following night.

The Tigers went up against a solid Yale team that was responsible for one of Princeton's three conference losses last year. With that thought and Friday's loss on their minds, motivation was not a problem.

"The match against Brown really changed our attitude towards our match against Yale," McReynolds said. "We knew we had to win and we knew we could win, we just had to step it up."

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The Tigers did just that and were able to pull out a victory to go .500 for the weekend. It wasn't easy, though, as the Elis pushed Princeton to a five-game match.

Nail-biting win

The Tigers again dropped the opening game, 30-26, but then came back to take the next two 30-26 and 30-23, respectively. They seemed to be on their way to a 3-1 victory, but the fourth game turned ugly, as Princeton hit only 83 percent and suffered a demoralizing 30-18 defeat. Although not an ideal way to come into the fifth and final game, the Tigers still managed to hang on and salvage the match with a 15-12 win in the clinching game.

The win was huge, because no matter how early in the season it is, dropping two conference games in one weekend can be disastrous. The win also showed the determination of the team coming off a tough loss.

"We played much more aggressively and confidently," senior outside hitter Ashley Weber said. "I think the key to our victory was keeping the pressure on Yale. By minimizing our errors we put ourselves in a much better position to attack their weaknesses and to keep the momentum on our side of the court."