Tigers win second straight at home

Late Friday night at Dillon Gym, with an emphatic kill on match point by freshman outside hitter Peter Eichler, the men's volleyball team achieved something it had not yet experienced this season — a winning streak.

Princeton (5-11 overall) built upon a dominant 3-0 victory over Stevens Tech (20-7) to claim its second win in a row by defeating St. Francis (11-9), 3-0, in the Tigers' last home match of the season. In truth, though, the action was more difficult than the 30-15, 30-26 and 30-24 scores might indicate.

"I think it was a very good win for us," assistant coach Sabrina King said. "St. Francis has been doing really well, and it's one of the stronger teams in the lower division."

Early advantage

The Tigers grabbed an early lead and quickly took off with it in the first game against the Red Flash. With Princeton leading 11-7, senior outside hitter Blake Robinson served two consecutive aces, jump-starting an eight-point Tiger run and pushing their lead to 19-7. After securing this comfortable cushion, Princeton won the first game with ease, 30-15.

The second and third games required a bit more effort. The Tigers struggled to hold on to their advantage in the second game, mostly fluctuating between a oneand two-point lead. At one point, however, St. Francis held a three-point lead over Princeton with a score of 10-7. Robinson again used his dominating serve to put Princeton back on top. The Tigers managed to wrestle the lead from the Red Flash and won the second game with a close 30-26 victory.

The third game was only slightly less challenging for Princeton. Like the second, it began with a fight for the lead, but the Tigers steadily chipped away at St. Francis to secure a sixor seven-point advantage throughout the second half of the game. Eichler's kill merely secured the inevitable as Princeton won the final game, 30-24.

Eichler lead the team with a total of 14 kills, while senior middle hitter Sean Vitousek and Robinson each contributed eight to the team's total of 38 kills. Junior setter Jack Pichard added 34 assists.

"Vitousek has been doing well all year long," King said. "When he doesn't have a huge block on him, he can make kills all day. That was definitely the case against St. Francis. They weren't a huge defensive threat on the block, and he took off with that. Peter's also been doing extremely well."

Playoff push

With playoffs rapidly approaching, this was an important victory for Princeton. Since the loss of star junior middle hitter Brian Hamming due to injury early in the season, the team has been struggling to keep its head above water. But with the two wins, the Tigers are confident that they will be able to continue their winning ways.

"For a while, things hadn't been clicking," King said. "Once you start losing, it's much harder to turn around. But for the past two games things have been coming together a bit better, and we've been making fewer errors."

Two games remain for the Tigers this season as they fight for the No. 5 spot in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association playoffs.

Princeton will face NYU tonight in another critical contest as the Tigers enter the final stretch before the post-season. A loss could force Princeton to compete in one of the two lower divisions of EIVA next spring.

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"A loss to NYU would be devastating. But we're feeling pretty confident," King said. "NYU doesn't have a huge block, and we're coming together pretty well. If we avoid errors and just attack their weaknesses, we should be fine."