No need for a hook here:
The women's volleyball team has won 17 games in a row.
This streak includes 11 wins — 10 in a row — against Ivy League rivals.
The four most recent victories took place over Fall Break. Last Friday, the Tigers traveled to Ithaca, N.Y., to take on last year's champions, Cornell, then took a four-and-a-half hour trip to New York City to take on Columbia.
Both games showcased Princeton's dominance. Against Cornell, the Tigers followed a pattern: the teams would trade points before Princeton would take a small lead, which turned into complete control, ending each game up by a wide margin.
Sophomore outside hitter Sheena Donohue, junior outside hitter Parker Henritze and junior middle blocker Lindsey Ensign combined for 41 kills, 10 more than the whole Cornell squad combined.
This was the second win over Cornell for the Tigers, who defeated the Big Red at Princeton earlier in their streak.
The next day, Princeton was in New York City to face Columbia, who it had defeated 22 days earlier in Dillon Gym.
Despite having to travel over 200 miles across the state of New York, the Tigers started their match fiercely with a 30-23 first-game victory. They continued their dominance with two 30-19 victories, extending their streak to 15 games.
The statistics in this game showed just how dominant Princeton was; Donohue, Henritze and Ensign combined for 48 kills, 20 more than Columbia could muster.
With this much of an edge away from home and fatigued from traveling, how do the Tigers keep their focus?
"I think the main reason we have been able to keep our focus over our winning streak is our maturity," Ensign said. "Every member on the team realizes that every match holds our destiny of the league title, so there is a sense of urgency that pushes us through every point of every match."
That sense of urgency was necessary this past weekend, when Princeton faced Dartmouth and Harvard at Dillon. Despite — or maybe because of — the fact that the Tigers have not lost a home game in two years, focus was necessary. Dartmouth, with a record of 13-8, was no cakewalk, having pushed Princeton to a five-game match merely 13 days before. A less than stellar Friday night performance by Princeton could have led to a loss.
And it did.
In the beginning of the first game, Dartmouth raced to a 9-3 lead, which was the result of 6 attack errors, culminating with a block by Katie Hirsch and Frances Samolowicz. Princeton and Dartmouth then traded points, which resulted in a 17-10 Dartmouth lead. A 10-7 run by the Tigers prompted a timeout by Dartmouth, which was followed by another run by Princeton. But the lead proved too much for even the streaking Tigers to overcome, and Dartmouth prevailed, 30-28.
Much to the dismay of Dartmouth, this loss merely sharpened the Tigers' resolve. Princeton dutifully did away with Dartmouth in the next three games, with scores of 30-25, 30-27 and 30-24.
Despite losing a game in the match, Princeton's three leading hitters still had more kills than Dartmouth's entire squad.
The next day, Princeton faced Harvard, a team that has struggled to win two matches in the same Ivy League where Princeton has only lost nine games. In the first two games of the final regular season game at Dillon, Princeton disposed of Harvard easily, winning 30-19 in both games.
But Harvard refused to leave quietly, mustering a 30-27 victory in the third game.
Like an insulted Bill Belichek-led squad, Princeton made sure to win the next game in as dominant a manner as possible. The Tigers doubled up on Harvard, winning the match 30-15.
This match also happened to be a career milestone for head coach Glenn Nelson. With this victory, he tied former softball coach Cindy Cohen for career coaching victories at Princeton, with 560 wins.
"I feel especially lucky to have had such an amazing coach during my college career," senior Jenny McReynolds said.
"I feel like he is finally getting recognition that is long overdue for what he does best."
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