Women's volleyball needs help to win Ivy League crown after loss

Head coach Glenn Nelson made history on Friday by winning his 500th game. Unfortunately for the women's volleyball team's title hopes, win number 501 wasn't in the cards this weekend.

Number 500 came against Columbia on Friday night in Dillon Gym, as the Tigers (16-7 overall, 7-4 Ivy League) swept the Lions (3-21, 1-11) in three games. The next day, however, fellow title contender Cornell (15-7, 9-3) rolled into town and rolled right over Princeton, 3-1.

The loss to the Big Red was a heavy blow to the Tigers' chances for the Ivy League title. Coming into the game, Cornell was in second place, one game behind Harvard and one up on Princeton.

The Cornell loss demonstrated a problem that has plagued the Tigers all year: slow starts. The Big Red jumped out to a 9-4 lead early in the first game and went on cruise control from there on out, taking it 30-25.

The second game wasn't much better for the Tigers. They were unable to get any offense rolling against a tough Cornell defense that leads the Ivy League in blocking. The Big Red took game number two, 30-21.

Princeton narrowly avoided a sweep, as it took the third game 31-29, but only after it came charging back from a late 26-22 deficit. This was all the momentum the Tigers could muster, however, as they were overpowered in the fourth and final match. Cornell won 30-25 and walked away with a 3-1 match victory.

Junior outside hitter Lauren Grumet led the Tigers with 17 kills in the match, while sophomore libero Jenny McReynolds led everyone with 35 digs. Junior Jenny Senske contributed 51 assists in the losing effort.

Most important stat

Perhaps the most telling stat is the number of blocks. Princeton had 12 while Cornell had an impressive 38. In doing so, the Big Red prevented the Tiger offense from getting untracked.

The stat also shows the problems Princeton had on defense, especially in containing Cornell's Elizabeth Bishop, who had a match-high 30 kills.

The previous night was much sweeter for the Tigers, who faced a Columbia team that had only one conference victory and three total for the year. The Lions had been swept in four out their previous five matches.

Princeton kept that streak alive and easily crushed Columbia in three straight games, 30-21, 30-24, and 30-24, respectively.

Number 500

The win was a big one for Coach Nelson, who secured a place in the Princeton record books by winning his 500th game as a Tiger coach.

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His overall record stands at 500-209 (.705 win percentage) and he joins former basketball coach Pete Carril (514) and former softball coach Cindy Cohen (564) as the only coaches in Princeton history to reach 500 victories.

While the Tigers' chances for a conference title were certainly hampered over the weekend, it could have been much worse, as they are fortunate to still be close to the league lead. They were aided by Cornell's loss on Friday night to Penn, while both the Big Red and Princeton were helped out even more by Harvard's loss on Saturday to Yale.

This now puts the Crimson and Cornell in a tie for first, while the Tigers remain within striking distance, only a game and a half back.

Three games remain for Princeton, the first against Harvard on Friday. The Tigers then conclude their season with Dartmouth on Saturday and Penn next Wednesday.