Title hopes on line as w. volleyball faces Dartmouth, Harvard

Here's a quick game of good news, bad news. Good news — the women's volleyball team is still alive in the race for the Ivy League title heading into this weekend's action. Bad news — it might just take another lunar eclipse for them to win it.

Entering the final weekend (there are two games scheduled for next week) the Tigers find themselves in a tie for third-place in the league, a game-and-a-half behind the two teams tied for first.

Cornell (15-7 overall) and Harvard (14-8) are both 9-3 in Ancient Eight play. Princeton (16-7) and Yale (12-7) are tied for third with a 7-4 conference mark.

This is where things become far more confusing. Cornell and Harvard each have two matches remaining while the Tigers and Elis have three apiece. Cornell hosts Yale and Brown (7-15, 4-7) this weekend. If Cornell beats Yale, they will knock the Elis from the Ivy League hunt. Should the Big Red win both of their games this weekend, they would clinch at least a share of the league title.

The Crimson's two remaining matches are at home against Princeton tonight and Penn (14-9, 6-5) tomorrow. If Princeton falls to Harvard, the Tigers will be eliminated from the league race. Should Harvard win both games, they would also clinch at least a share of the league title.

In addition to taking on Harvard, Princeton must also play at Dartmouth (6-16, 3-9) tomorrow and host Penn on Tuesday night. Even if Princeton is to win all three games, they would still need either Yale or Brown to beat Cornell to have a shot at the league crown.

In addition to battling Cornell, the Elis also face off against Columbia (3-21, 1-11) and Brown. Should Yale win out, they would need Harvard to lose to either Princeton or Penn to stake a claim to the title.

There is a very possible scenario in which Princeton, Yale, Cornell, and Harvard could finish in a four-way tie for first place. Should Yale and Princeton beat Cornell and Harvard, respectively, tonight, and all four teams win out the rest of the way, the league would have to set up a four-way playoff to determine who receives the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

For Princeton, the focus must be on the Crimson, a team the Tigers defeated 3-2 on Oct. 16 at Dillon Gym. In that match, Princeton jumped out to a 2-0 lead only to watch Harvard battle back and force a deciding fifth game.

The final statistics for the match could not be much closer than they were, with Princeton earning one more kill (77-76), assist (73-72), and dig (74-73) than the Crimson. Senior middle blocker Alex Brown led the team with 19 kills.

The Crimson seems vulnerable at the moment having dropped two of its last four matches. Harvard was swept by both Cornell and Yale during that stretch. They also eked out a narrow 3-2 victory over a weak Brown squad. The Crimson took the last game against the Bears, 15-13.

Should the Tigers win tonight, they should have an easy time with lowly Dartmouth tomorrow to set up a crucial final match of the season against Penn on Tuesday evening at Dillon.