It is no coincidence that the women's volleyball team cheer is a collective shout of one word: rage. During their games this weekend, the Tigers channeled this crazed intensity, dominating both Cornell and Columbia.
On Friday night Princeton (14-1 overall, 4-1 Ivy League) faced a highly competitive Cornell team (8-7, 3-2). Last year Cornell ranked No. 1 in the Ivy League, and this year the Big Red came to Princeton confident of victory. Underestimating the Tigers' strength, Cornell made errors throughout the game, opening up opportunities for Princeton's domination. Though the Tigers did wobble in the third game, they rallied back to take the match, 3-1.
On attack, the outside hitters were tops on the team in kills. Sophomore Parker Henritze led the way with 23 kills. Not far behind, hitters sophomore Lindsay Ensign, freshman Sheena Donohue and sophomore Jessica Hoffman racked in 17, 13 and 10 kills, respectively. Sophomore setter Bailey Robinson paced the Tigers with 55 assists.
On defense, Henritze again led the way with 20 digs, while junior libero Emily Turner made her mark on the Big Red with 16 digs.
For the Big Red, outside hitter Elizabeth Bishop ran the show, securing 25 kills for her team. Middle blocker Joanna Weiss also stood out on the Cornell attack lineup. But then again, at six foot four inches, who wouldn't notice Weiss' not having to jump to put down a kill on the other side of the net?
Ready for battle, the Tigers took the first two games, 31-29, and 30-23. Tigers began to falter in the third game, however, slowing their pace and allowing Cornell to take the game, 30-27.
But Princeton regained its composure in the fourth game. Coming back from a 21-20 Cornell lead, the Tigers rallied in the last few minutes of game time. Two kills by freshman outside hitter Taylor Carroll and a final kill by Hoffman secured the game for Princeton, 30-25.
"Tonight, we came out together with everyone focused," Ensign said. "If we keep playing the way we are playing, we shouldn't have a problem."
Yelling either "meet Parker" or "Lindsay's nasty," a fired-up home crowd verbalized the on-court action. The crowd turned out to be right when it yelled "game over" early in the evening.
On Saturday, the Tigers faced the Lions (5-9, 0-5). Princeton carried the momentum from Friday night's game, and shut down the Lions, 3-1. Although Princeton did falter in the third game, the Tigers' combination of powerful hitters and fast players left little chance for a Columbia victory.
For the Tigers, Henritze knocked down 26 kills, and Donohue's 19 added to Princeton's attack power. Robinson continued to play well near the net, securing 57 assists for the Orange and Black. On defense, Turner had 18 digs.
The Lions were led by outside hitter Gabi D'Addario, right side hitter Natalie Gerling and middle blocker Nikki Learned, scoring seven, 14 and 13 kills respectively. D'Addario played a great game against the net, and Learned secured the highest attack percentage for her team with .435.
Still, the Tigers found Columbia's weakness and exploited it, knocking down kills close to the line that the Lions were unable to save. Princeton dominated the first two games 30-16 and 30-25. It appeared as if everyone was going to go home early with a 3-0 victory. As in their game against Cornell, however, the Tigers slipped in the third game, allowing the Lions to steal that game 30-28. But the team picked up the pace in the fourth game, securing a 30-19 game and a 3-1 victory.
Coming into the weekend's games, the Tigers weren't assured easy wins. Last week, the Orange and Black suffered a disappointing loss against a weaker Dartmouth team. It seems that Princeton learned from its mistakes in the game against the Big Green to counter both Cornell's and Columbia's efforts to shut down a fiery Tiger team.
"We learned that when it's 25 all, we need to step up our level of play," said head coach Glenn Nelson. "We didn't do that last week."
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