Princeton upsets Red Flash

West to East, ups and downs — that's one way to describe how the men's volleyball team has been playing recently.

After returning from the West Coast, the Tigers (2-4 overall, 1-1 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) took a weekend road trip to face two Pennsylvania teams, one ranked No. 15 in the country. And what an "up" it was to defeat that team.

Though Princeton lost a hotly contested battle against Juniata on Friday night, the Tigers battled back the following afternoon, soundly defeating St. Francis — a team that came into the game ranked 15th in the nation.

Led by junior outside hitter and captain Peter Eichler, who registered a team-high 17 kills — including one to force a fifth game — the Tigers fell just short against the Juniata Eagles. Though strong at some points, the Princeton squad was unable to build and maintain the high level of play.

"We struggled a bit with consistency throughout the match," Eichler said. "It was up-and-down — and in the fifth game, we were down."

Princeton and Juniata alternated winning games, with the Eagles pulling away to claim a 15-7 victory in the deciding fifth game. The Tigers' loss was due in large part to the .231 hitting percentage they recorded in the fifth game.

Still, the match could have been over far sooner were it not for a handful of key plays toward the end of the second game. Already trailing Juniata by one game, the Tigers found themselves down 28-26 when freshman middle blocker Jeff McCown registered a kill to pull the Orange and Black within one. From there, a Juniata error and a service ace by sophomore middle blocker Mike Vincent gave the Tigers a 29-28 lead. After Juniata knotted the score at 30, back-to-back kills from freshman outside hitter Carl Hamming and Eichler gave Princeton the game by a score of 32-30.

The Tigers, however, could not build on their dramatic second game, dropping their third game 30-27 on the way to a 3-2 defeat.

"We should have won [against Juniata]," Eichler said. "It was disappointing that we couldn't pull it off."

Looking to avoid a 0-2 start to league play, the Princeton squad found redemption the following afternoon, as it gained a big upset victory against the St. Francis Red Flash. Fueled by consistent play, which they had lacked the night before, the Tigers came away with a 3-1 (32-30, 30-26, 21-30, 30-23) win.

Once again led by Eichler, who recorded 18 kills and 11 digs, the team hit .261 collectively, including a match-high .343 in the opening game. Indeed, the Tigers looked like a different team from the previous night's.

"It was a result of a lot of things," Eichler said. "When our hitting percentage is around .300, we're gonna win."

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"We were a little more consistent [against St. Francis]," he added. "Even though we got a little complacent and lost the third game, we were able to come back and finish strong."

The turning point of the game came early on, as the Tigers found themselves in a hard-fought opener, down 29-27. After rallying back to take a one-point lead at 31-30, senior middle hitter Evan Paison hit one of the team's two aces, giving the first game to the Tigers.

The Tigers received a strong performance from sophomore setter Brandon Denham, who registered 56 assists, six blocks and six digs and went a perfect three-fore-three in kills. Also picking up the slack for the Tigers was senior outside hitter Reid Joseph, who stepped in for Hamming.

"[He] had a few big kills at key moments in the game," Eichler said. "Reid really stepped up when [Hamming] was struggling a bit."

The solid victory reaffirms the team's expectation that it will be able to compete with some of the top teams in the country in spite of its relative youth and inexperience.

"We have a lot of room to improve, [and] we need to improve," Eichler said. "But we're in the right spot for NYU on Tuesday night."