Tigers take down No. 11 George Mason

“We have a lot of momentum here at home,” Hamming said.

The upset victory was far from assured, as Princeton started slowly. Good spikes and crosses from the Patriots (9-6 overall, 2-3 EIVA Tait Division), coupled with sloppy volleyball riddled with mistakes from the Tigers (7-5, 2-3), brought George Mason out to an early 15-9 lead in the first game. The Patriots coasted from there, winning the first game 30-26, despite a late comeback effort from Princeton.

The Tigers came surging back, though, and didn’t stop until they had won the match. An amazing bounce off the basketball hoop saved the Tigers a point, and that began an early comeback in the second game to give them an 11-9 lead. With an ace from outside hitter and captain Peter Eichler, Princeton widened the lead to 21-17 and cruised from there, winning 30-25.

The third game was equally exciting, as another Eichler ace helped the Tigers get out to a great start, leading 13-10. Just when George Mason seemed to be coming back, amazing blocks from Hamming and sophomore middle blocker Jeff McCown stifled whatever thoughts the Patriots had of winning that game. Princeton won game three handily, 30-21.

“It’s very demoralizing getting [your shots] blocked,” Hamming said.

But George Mason battled back, leading 14-12 early in the fourth game. After a George Mason service error broke a 19-19 deadlock, Hamming got a kill and a crucial block to give the Tigers a 22-19 lead they wouldn’t give up. It was only fitting that a game filled with spikes and aces ended on an ace from junior setter Brandon Denham, bringing the final game to a close, 30-25.

“Serving, passing and blocking are the big keys,” Hamming said. “When we play well, that’s what we do.”

The Tigers certainly did those three things well, as Hamming and McCown ended with six and seven blocks, respectively. Denham, the team’s leading setter, had 55 assists to bring his season total to 364. Eichler led the way with 11 digs.

Eichler led the overall attack with 20 kills, while Hamming and Vincent chipping in 16 and 10, respectively. Hamming hit a team-high .583, while added two aces to his team-leading 10 on the year.

For the game, Princeton outhit the Patriots .320 to .192, while racking up 42 digs to the visitors’ 27.

What was more important than the numbers, however, is finally getting a win over George Mason, a perennial EIVA power.

“We’re pretty excited — this is the first time we’ve beat [George] Mason a few years,” Hamming said. “We need to keep the home winning streak going.”

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Hamming said that Princeton plans to work on its serving in preparation for next weekend’s games. This makes sense, as it cost them quite a few points during Saturday’s match. Mishaps on the serve were costly during the first game and occurred frequently in the other games. Head coach Glenn Nelson was visibly frustrated at the Tigers’ poor serving during the first game.

Princeton definitely needs to prepare as much as possible, as the schedule will not get any easier this week. Next weekend, No. 1 Penn State visits Dillon Gym. The Nittany Lions improved to 18-0 Saturday with a 3-0 victory over NJIT. The other two games are against conference foes NJIT on Wednesday and St. Francis on Friday.