Patriots outplay Tigers at home

The Tigers learned this weekend what every Princetonian heading to Wall Street next year should know: Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

After smoothly sailing through the first game, the men's volleyball team came up dry in three consecutive games. George Mason had an answer to all of the Tigers' options and consistently put together runs, pulling out a big 3-1 victory on Friday night in Dillon Gym.

"Well, let's look at it," head coach Glenn Nelson said. "They outhit us, [had] fewer serving errors, out-dug us, out-blocked us — so who do you think is going to win?"

The statistics paint a grim picture of the first Tiger defeat at home aside from their loss to division leader Penn State two games ago. The team had sole possession of second place in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tait Division going into the game, but George Mason (6-6 overall, 4-3 EIVA) was hot on their heels. The Patriots took over second place after trumping the Tigers (6-5, 4-3).

The Tigers showed up to play, demonstrating the same fire that has helped them move ahead in division standings. Junior outside hitter and captain Peter Eichler led the way with 25 kills in the match. Senior middle hitter Evan Pasion, sophomore outside hitter Philip Rosenberg and sophomore middle blocker Mike Vincent were all playing at the top of their games.

The Tigers had 21 kills on 30 attempts, hitting .600 in the first game. Princeton held a lead the entire game and increased it as the scores got higher.

Unfortunately, the tide turned against the Tigers at the beginning of the second game, when they quickly found themselves down by six points, with a score of 2-8. The Tigers rallied on consecutive George Mason errors, followed by two service runs by sophomore setter Brandon Denham and senior captain and outside hitter Reid Joseph, to tie the score at 11 and take a 13-12 lead.

The two teams battled back and forth, but the Orange and Black committed too many errors to stay on pace with Mason. The Tigers hit a dismal .086 in the game as compared to George Mason's .280.

To try to find an edge, Nelson substituted freshman right side Carl Hamming for Joseph. Pasion tried to keep Princeton's hopes alive with some key kills at the end, but George Mason squashed the threat and won the second game 30-26 to even the score at one game a piece.

"Our energy dropped off, and we got behind early," Eichler said. "It was too hard to work back into the games."

In the third game, Princeton kept it close early on but then fell behind again when George Mason went on a four-point run on the serve of Ryan Kwiatkowski, whose short, floating serve posed a problem for the Tigers.

"Their serving beat us up," Denham said.

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Patriot William Price's serve also proved to be devastating to the Tigers, as he notched three aces and only four errors on a match-high 24 attempts.

Nelson decided to let Hamming stay in for the rest of the match and gave fellow freshman Jeff McCown a chance in the second game.

"Hamming was playing well in practice, so I wanted to give him a shot," Nelson said. "He needs to learn to aim a little higher — he hit negative in the match — but we are trying to get him some time. These freshmen are going to be the ones starting next year, and they need experience. When you win 3-0, it's hard to get them in, so I wanted them to play today."

Hamming had four digs and an ace, but both freshmen hit negative on the night, with Hamming picking up the only four digs between them. In the third game, McCown played for Pasion, who had been playing very well in the match, but Pasion returned for the fourth game and tried to help the Tigers pull it out.

"Things weren't going well, so we tried to change it up," Eichler said.

The Tigers went down quietly in the third game with a final score of 22-30, unable to piece together a rally.

In the fourth game, however, they gave the Patriots a run for their money. The two teams battled back and forth the entire game, with neither team taking more than a one-point lead after Princeton's early 4-2 lead.

But George Mason shut the door and Princeton's hopes of holding onto second place in the division when it went on a five-point run, once again on Price's serve, which included two aces. A service error by Eichler finished the game and the match, as the Tigers fell, 26-30.

"This game would have been really big," Eichler said. "We need to get back at Juniata and sweep the weekend against St. Francis."