The men's volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to George Mason, securing fourth place in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association and a quarterfinal playoff matchup at home. Had Princeton (11-9 overall, 6-6 EIVA Tait Division) won, it would have earned the second seed and a bye to the semifinals. Instead, the team will face the winner of Juniata and Springfield in the last eight.
Junior outside hitter Peter Eichler led the Tigers with 13 kills, while senior outside hitter Reid Joseph had 12 and sophomore outside hitter Phil Rosenberg recorded 10. Sophomore setter Brandon Denham led Princeton with 44 assists and 10 digs.
George Mason (11-9, 7-5) outhit the Tigers .319 to .241, though both squads recorded 49 kills.
The first of the three games was the most contentious, with both teams firing 19 kills and hitting .318. With the score knotted at 27, George Mason capitalized on two key Tiger errors to take the game 30-28.
The two teams fought closely at the beginning of the second game, but the Patriots ignited an 8-1 run that quashed any chance Princeton had of leveling the score.
Though George Mason only hit .235 for game two, the Tigers responded with an abysmal .079 to fall 30-24.
Princeton fought hard in the third game, but with the score tied 20-20, the Patriots went on a 10-4 run to close out the Senior Night victory.
The final frame, in which the Tigers hit .324, was Princeton's strongest statistically, but the effort was overcome by George Mason's .400 hitting percentage.
Though Princeton has soundly defeated teams that have beaten George Mason, the Patriots' outside hitting created matchup problems that characterized this contest and the March 9 contest between the two squads.
Rightside hitter William Price, considered one of the best at his position in the EIVA, if not the nation, led both sides with 17 kills and a .441 hitting percentage. Price ranks first in the EIVA with 5.49 kills per game and .63 aces per game.
Princeton's mental and physical readiness after the four-hour bus trip drew some questions, but Eichler was not one to make excuses for the loss.
"I don't think the bus ride was a problem," Eichler said. "I felt that we were well prepared and everyone was fired up to go in there and beat Mason. For some reason, that didn't come on the court with us."
Instead, Eichler found fault in the team's play.
"Our passing was pretty sloppy last night, and you can't win big matches against very good teams when you don't pass well," he said.
Though a win would've guaranteed a prolonged respite for the Tigers, the team is not discouraged.
"I don't think it impacts us going into the playoffs too much," Eichler said. "It would have been nice to have a double-bye and go straight to the semifinals, but no one ever said it would be easy."
"It will be fun to play in front of our home crowd one more time, and hopefully we can get right back to where we would have been otherwise."
The final EIVA standings showed a tight race for second place, with every team except top dog Penn State and bottom dweller Rutgers-Newark in the hunt.
Both George Mason and St. Francis finished 7-5, with St. Francis owning the tiebreaker. Juniata and Princeton ended their season each with records of 6-6.
Had Princeton defeated George Mason, it would have owned the tiebreaker with St. Francis.
The Tigers split the season series with Juniata, with both matches going the distance.
Princeton has not played Springfield, its other potential quarterfinal opponent.
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