Explorers can't find offense against Princeton

The women's volleyball team has probably heard the classic coach's adage — practice makes perfect.

After its Tuesday night win over La Salle, it appears that the Tigers have certainly been practicing. With their defeat of the Explorers, the Tigers seem to have perfected their defense and extended their win-streak to five in the process.

Princeton's match against La Salle (8-10 overall) was its last road match before a fivegame home stand to open the Ivy League portion of its regular-season schedule.

Sophomore outside hitter Sheena Donohue paced the Tigers in kills with 14, while Jenny McReynolds led Princeton with 17 defensive digs. Junior middle blocker Lindsey Ensign had 10 kills, and Parker Henritze contributed 16 defensive digs.

But the true extent of the Tigers' domination can be best seen in the statistics for La Salle. Princeton held La Salle to a .09 attack percentage. On the other hand, the Tigers' .27 attack percentage shows the strong defensive effort Princeton put up.

"We did have some amazing rallies where the defense really stuck with the point," Ensign said. "We had some amazing ups that led to points that pushed us ahead in the end of two of the close games."

Those two games were the second and third games of the match. The first game was not close; Princeton won, 30-22. The highlight of the game for the Tigers was the five-point rally — three of which were scored by junior outside hitter Kelli Grobe — that broke a 7-7 tie.

The second game was much tighter. The score was tied 14 times, including at 28-28. The Tigers were able to prevail on two errors by the opposition and won, 30-28.

The third game had fewer ties, and Princeton sealed the straight-set victory with a 30-25 win.

This was the fifth consecutive win for the Tigers, who have lost only four sets since their last loss to Liberty, nearly two weeks ago.

"I see our five-game winning streak as nothing to rest our laurels on," Ensign said, "because the next few matches will really challenge us."

Princeton's next game will be the start of its Ivy League season. The Tigers play Penn this Saturday at Dillon Gym, kicking off a six-game home stand.

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Penn's volleyball squad (5-5) has lost all three of its away games and holds a paltry 2-2 record on its home court.

The Quakers are led on offense by Laura Black and Julia Swanson, who each have over 100 kills in only 10 matches. Lindsey Ensign, Parker Henritze and Sheena Donohue each have more kills, however, despite playing two fewer matches.

Princeton hasn't been avoiding the tough fights either. The Tigers have defeated five quality opponents away from Dillon under tough circumstances. First, they beat Villanova, William & Mary and Binghamton in a span of two days, after being beaten by Liberty in straight sets. Then they beat Lafayette and La Salle handily away from home.

But the Ivy League segment of the schedule is the part with the most history and the strongest rivalries. It's the part of the season where alumni who know none of the players on the team get excited just because the team is facing Ivy opponents.

The Tigers are aware of this added interest and hope that their good play carries into their upcoming Ivy League homestretch

"I think that our recent success that we've been having in games and at practice will have really prepared us for our next six home games," Ensign said. "I also see us starting [off in the] Ivy League very well. With all of our home games, we are really counting on the support of our fans to give us that home-court advantage that our team loves having."