After loss, W. volleyball responds with upset win

Going into its Saturday match against the Bulldogs, the women's volleyball team knew it was now or never. Yale (12-5, 7-1) sat atop the Ivy League with an undefeated record, 2.5 games ahead of Princeton. But for the second time in three weekends, the women's volleyball team has shown that you can never count it out.

After suffering its second Ivy League loss at the hands of Brown (7-12 overall, 3-4 Ivy League), Princeton toppled Yale 3-1 to regain control of its season.

The Tigers (15-2, 5-2) knew going into the weekend that they would have to bring their A-game against Yale but perhaps forgot that they had another match before then. The under-.500 Bears must have slipped under the radar as the Tigers fell in four games.

Similar to the Orange and Black's disheartening loss against Dartmouth, Princeton lacked its regular spirit and heart that typically carries the team to victory. The absence of this "drive" that led it to an 11-0 winning streak at the beginning of the season has been the decisive factor in its two losses this season.

"In both cases, we didn't have our hearts in the game which makes it so much harder to pick ourselves up and recover from an error," said sophomore outside hitter Sasha Sadrai. "Perhaps things would have been different if we were at home with the cheers of the Dillon fans spurring us on."

As Sadrai explained, being on the road has also been something that the Tigers have had trouble overcoming. It has been Friday matches during away weekends that have caused trouble for the Tigers.

In the four games, Princeton hit only .119, much lower than its season average of .264. Sophomore middle blocker Lindsey Ensign led the attack in another strong weekend of play, hitting .452 with 24 kills in 42 attempts. Twelve kills by sophomore outside hitter Parker Henritze and 10 from freshman outside hitter Sheena Donohue supported her.

However, their efforts could not stop Brown's .253 hitting percentage in the loss. The Orange and Black, despite winning the first game, 30-20, lost the match, losing the final three games by scores of 30-23, 30-27 and 30-19.

But the resilient Tigers were not done. The team knew that suffering another loss, particularly at the hands of league-leading Yale, would seriously jeopardize its shot at the Ivy League title. So once again, heading into the more anticipated match of the weekend, Princeton aimed to impress.

The Tigers came out strong from the start, sending Yale to the sidelines after game one with a 30-22 loss.

There was no question that Princeton was ready to play.

"We were thoroughly prepared to face a tough team when we played the bulldogs and came out fighting," Sadrai said. "We played so much better as a team: movement was more fluid, adrenaline was pumping and there was communication on the court."

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This time, Princeton's .263 attack percentage out-shined Yale's .176, and Princeton's big three were again in the double-digits for kills. Ensign did not let up, recording 25 more kills on Saturday. Henritze and Donohue recorded double-doubles, with 15 kills and 17 digs, and 19 kills and 13 digs respectively. Junior libero Emily Turner led the Princeton defense with 19 digs of her own.

While Princeton let Yale back into the match in a tough second game, falling by a score of 30-28, the Tigers closed out the match with a 30-28 victory in the third game and a convincing 30-24 win to finish out the match.

With this win, Princeton will be able to control its own destiny. If the Orange and Black are able to win the rest of their games this season, including another match-up at home against the Bulldogs, then the Tigers will at least have a share of the Ivy League title.