Women's volleyball sweeps Crimson, Big Green

When junior defensive specialist Joanna Mandecki's ace hit the ground, the women's volleyball team recorded its first Ivy League victory of the season against Dartmouth. The Tigers' success continued the next day when they took their second Ivy win against Harvard.

In a series of games in which all the pieces seemed to fall into place, Princeton (9-3 overall, 2-1 Ivy League) swept two league opponents in Dillon Gym — the Big Green (9-5, 2-2) on Friday and the Crimson (3-11, 0-4) on Saturday.

Coming off a tough three-game loss to Juanita last weekend, it was crucial that the Tigers get back on track in these two league matchups.

In the Dartmouth contest, the two teams started out evenly in the first game. When the game was tied at 19, Princeton was able to string together some scrappy points behind freshman outside hitter Parker Henritze's serve to get its lead up to 22-19. While Dartmouth got a few points back, the Tigers responded with big kills and finished off the game, winning 30-23.

The second game was the easiest of the weekend for Princeton, who took a 13-2 lead, again on Henritze's serve. The Tigers managed to keep a 10- to 15-point lead for the rest of the game, capitalizing on some technical mistakes by the Big Green, and finished off the second game, 30-20. Dartmouth had no answer to Henritze's cross-court kill.

The Big Green came out strong in the third match, however, and Princeton hit its first speed bump when it found itself down, 6-0. By the time senior setter Jenny Senske went down clutching her ankle, the Tigers had climbed to within two points, 10-8.

Sophomore outside hitter Emily Turner filled in for Senske, and after a shaky start put together two assists to keep Princeton in the game.

"Senske went down and everyone panicked, but then Turner came in and stepped up and was great," Henritze said.

The Tigers soon fell behind again, but regained momentum when a big block was taken away from the Big Green on a technicality. Following two kills by freshman middle blocker Lindsey Ensign, Mandecki was able to finish off Dartmouth with her ace for a 30-28 win for the game and a 3-0 win for the match.

"It was literally a whole-team effort," Henritze said of the Big Green match.

Deja vu

The Harvard match followed in the same vein, prompting Nelson to call it an exact replica after the game.

The first game was a back-and-forth fight of short runs by both teams. While Harvard was able to make a few digs early on against Henritze, senior outside hitter Lauren Grumet was right there to punish them from the other side with her own cross-court kills. Princeton was slowly able to build a small lead until the Crimson came back to tie the game at 29. Ensign came up with two clutch kills, and Grumet hit the game-winning kill to give the Tigers the win in the first game, 33-31.

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Play in the second game was marked by longer rallies with many powerful hits and scrappy digs by both teams, but Princeton was able to hold its lead down the stretch with great touches by Ensign that placed the ball into holes in the Harvard defense. The Tigers pushed Harvard toward elimination, winning the second game, 30-25.

The final game was Princeton's toughest of the weekend. The Tigers made errors early on in this game, which convinced Nelson to use freshman outside hitter Sasha Sadrai to help the girls clean up the game. With her team trailing by as many as 10 points, Sadrai came in and helped Princeton turn the game around with three kills in eight attacks. Suddenly, the Tigers had the momentum after the Crimson had taken nine of the first 10 points.

After a smattering of blocks and kills, it was Senske's touch over the net on a set that gave the Tigers the 32-30 win for the game and the 3-0 win for the match.

The Tigers' offense was led by Henritze, with 31 total kills over the weekend, and Grumet, who contributed 29. But Nelson relied on the contributions of many Princeton players in order to piece together each of the wins. This included Mandecki, who had four aces this weekend, including the match point against the Big Green. Mandecki also served during key rallies in the Harvard match, in particular one which brought Princeton back into the game and give the Tigers the lead again early in the second game.

"Everyone on the team contributes," Nelson said. "You've got to perform because if you don't there is someone behind you who wants your position. We've never had that before. If you have that, you're going to win."

Nelson pointed to freshman outside hitter Kelli Grobe's return to full strength as a key to Princeton's success.

"The number one thing is that now that Kelli is in there feeling okay, it allows Sasha [Sadrai] to be able to sub in and out to pick things up when we need her," Nelson said after the Dartmouth match. "That makes us that much deeper, which is really important."

Sadrai filled that role perfectly, particularly in the third game of the Harvard match.

In both matches, the Tigers found themselves battling back and forth with either the Big Green or the Crimson, many times trading points and the lead. It was Princeton's consistency throughout the weekend, however, that allowed it to win both matches without dropping a game.

"Our offense executed, the hitters were smart and the servers, in particular Jo [Mandecki], gave us exactly what we needed," Senske said.