Princeton sweeps Cornell, Columbia

Dillon Gym was in an uproar at 5:30 p.m. Saturday night after a controversial side-out call nearly jeopardized the women's volleyball team's chance of sweeping the weekend action.

Princeton's senior outside hitter Lauren Grumet was furious over a miscall of her kill, which a Cornell player deflected out of bounds undetected. On Grumet's next opportunity, she sent a vicious hit to the Big Red rear court to give the Tigers another match point. Senior setter Jenny Senske finished the match with an ace to center court.

Princeton (16-8 overall, 7-6 Ivy League) defeated Cornell (19-5, 12-2) in three games. The Tigers never trailed in the first two games, winning 30-24 and 30-25, respectively. They won the hard-fought third game by a 32-30 margin after trailing for more than half the match.

The Big Red's defense was tough for Princeton to handle. Going into the weekend, Cornell had nearly twice as many blocks as did the Tigers, so Princeton knew that it needed to be prepared for the Big Red's strength at the net.

However, the Tiger offense made the most of every opportunity Cornell gave them. Princeton varied the strength of its touches, easily transitioning from hard hits to soft dinks to put the Big Red defense off balance.

Cornell figured out the Tigers' game by the third set, though. The Big Red put up impressive blocks on hard Princeton kill attempts and began to anticipate the Tigers' use of the shorter and softer hits. Cornell's lead was padded by several Princeton service errors and a couple of questionable side-out calls by the official.

"I'm really happy with the way we hung in there," head coach Glenn Nelson said. "They had the lead, and we hung in there."

Junior libero Jenny McReynolds had a match-high 40 digs and made several wise decisions resulting in side outs for the Tigers. Princeton's patience during the match was what set it apart and gave it the edge, though.

The Big Red, which leads the league in number of kills, sent three hits in a row out of bounds and was called for a handling miscue. These errors, combined with a kill from freshman middle blocker Lindsey Ensign, gave the Tigers their first solid lead of the set.

Princeton scrapped its way through the rest of the game and won the match with stellar play from the seniors.

"It ended exactly as I hoped it would, with perfect senior camaraderie," Grumet said.

Lions silenced

The Tigers had set the stage for the weekend sweep the previous night with a rout over Columbia (6-19, 4-10).

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Princeton took an early lead against the Lions with help from freshman outside hitter Parker Henritze. Henritze had 15 kills in the match and a service ace, contributing significantly as she has all season. Another big factor for the Tigers was McReynolds, who had 26 digs in the match.

Though Columbia fought back on its serve, Princeton held onto the lead and won the set, 30-27.

The second set was dominated by the Lions for nearly two-thirds of the match. Grumet and Ensign combined for 25 kills throughout the match and nine for the game, helping the Tigers come back from a six-point deficit and win the match, 30-27.

The third match was dominated by Princeton. After losing the first point, the Tigers won the lead by the ninth serve and continued to increase it slowly throughout the game. Princeton won the final set of the match, 30-24.

The three seniors put in big games for their last matches at Dillon Gym. Senior middle blocker Brittany Wood put up the Tigers' only block of the match against the Lions and had the highest hitting percentage for Princeton as well. Grumet was indispensable in the offense, and Senske played tough defense and had an important ace to win the Cornell match.

The Tigers fought hard through two grudge matches against teams who had swept them earlier in the season, finishing the home season with a pair of wins for the outgoing seniors.

Princeton will finish its regular season tonight against Penn (10-15, 7-6) in Philadelphia.