For the second weekend in a row, the women's volleyball team boarded the buses home with two all-tournament team selections and a title. With outstanding performances coming this week from sophomore middle blocker Lindsey Ensign and freshman outside hitter Sheena Donohue, the Tigers (6-0) swept their opponents at the Bucknell Invitational.
The tournament started out for the Tigers with a clean 3-0 win over LaSalle. Offense was the name of the game in the first match. While LaSalle put up a good fight at first, sophomore outside hitter Parker Henritze, last year's Ivy League Rookie of the Year, came up with back-to-back kills, which began a 10-1 run for the Tigers. They never looked back.
Ensign finished the match with 15 kills, seven blocks, and a .481 attack percentage. Her efforts were supported by a double-double from Henritze with 11 kills and 11 digs and Donohue's seven kills and 14 blocks.
It was the Princeton defense, however, that stole the show in the second and third games. The Tigers were able to limit LaSalle to a scrawny .024 hitting percentage in the second game, and came out in the third only to top that by leaving Explorers in the red with a -.020 percentage.
With the team building momentum from four straight wins, the Tigers hit their groove on Saturday and finished out the invitational undefeated with 3-0 wins over both the host Bucknell and Wagner.
The more the Tigers played, the more their system seemed to work. The first two games against Bucknell were hard fought, with final scores of 30-25 and 30-24, but Princeton finished off the victory with a convincing 30-16 win.
To finish out the weekend, the Tigers matched up against Wagner, who they handled easily in three games with 30-24, 30-22, and 30-22 wins.
Saturday's performances were marked by two more impressive matches from sophomore setter Bailey Robinson, who had 41 assists against Bucknell and 39 more against Wagner.
Donohue turned in an impressive 15-kill performance against Bucknell to complement 18 kills from Ensign. Against Wagner, it was Ensign who again took the opposing defense by storm-tallying 14 kills — but Henritze was right there with 12 kills of her own.
In the final games, it was the strong defense that once again helped to lift the Tigers past their competition. After limiting LaSalle to a meager .052 hitting percentage, Princeton had two more strong performances, holding Bucknell and Wagner to .152 and .148 respectively.
Leading the way defensively were Henritze (nine digs) and Robinson (five) against Bucknell, and Donohue (10) and Henritze again (nine) against Wagner.
Coming out of the second weekend of the season, the Tigers are still undefeated. As they prepare for the Red Flash Invitational in Loretta, Penn., next weekend, where they will face Coppin State, Stoney Brook and St. Francis (PA), Princeton will look to build on the momentum of its flawless record.
The Tigers first true test will come at the end of the month, when they take on their first conference competition against Penn on Sept. 30. Princeton will need to continue its strong defensive performance, and see many young players step up to lead the attack in order to continue their winning streak.
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