On a team that most expected would draw its strength from a veteran senior class, it was freshman middle blocker Cathryn Quinn who kept the women’s volleyball team in its Wednesday night game against Temple.With the outcome of the match resting on the Tigers pulling themselves together in the fourth set and playing like an Ivy League champ, they came out of the gates running. Princeton controlled the match, hitting .250, its best of the match, and completing a late 8-3 run to give it a 25-17 win. The Tigers flat lined after that, however. The Owls quickly jumped out to a 12-3 lead and easily took the fifth and final set, 15-6. The end result may not have been what the Tigers had hoped for, but they certainly couldn’t have asked for much more from Quinn, who accomplished a team-best 15 kills and hit .481 against Temple. “Cathryn played amazingly,” senior outside hitter and captain Parker Henritze said. “She was unstoppable hitting and put up some great blocks that definitely helped the defense set up.”The Tigers (3-1 overall) suffered their first loss of the season in a closely contested matchup in Philadelphia. Though the Owls (4-5) hit the court with a three-match losing streak and decidedly less confidence than Princeton, Temple’s determined offense was too much for the Tigers to handle, as Princeton’s winning streak ended with a 3-2 loss. Temple posted 17 team blocks, 12 of which came in the first two games. In contrast, the Tigers walked away with a disappointing five blocks. Despite the end result, the Tigers started the game terrifically, taking an early lead in game one. The Owls managed to claw their way back into the match with a six-point run to tie the game at 23, but Temple then seemed to run out of gas, committing two straight errors to give the Tigers the game, 25-23. Determined not to go down without a fight, the Owls hit the court with a vengeance in the second game, not allowing Princeton to get closer than three points, and picked up an easy 25-19 win. Though the Tigers played more aggressively in the third game, making a late three-point run, they were unable to keep up the momentum, and Temple took the game, 25-22. “I think we lost a little confidence and stopped playing to our strengths,” Henritze said. “Temple put up a solid block, and we were slow to adjust after they built up some momentum coming off the end of the first game.”Quinn wasn’t the only standout freshman. Libero Hillary Ford also shined during Wednesday’s match, posting a team-high 22 digs. Of course, the upperclassmen continued to provide a solid base for the team, with senior setter Bailey Robinson, last season’s NCAA leader in assists, aiding the offense with 51 assists. Additionally, Henritze earned her third-straight double-double with 13 kills and 13 digs. In spite of the tremendous effort put forth by Princeton’s players, it simply wasn’t enough to give them the win and certainly won’t be good enough this weekend at the Colgate Invitational. The Tigers start the weekend with a match against Colgate (4-6) on Saturday morning followed by one against Syracuse (4-8). “I think against Colgate we will focus on our serve-receive game,” senior middle blocker Lindsey Ensign said. “Wednesday night, we lost a lot of points when Temple would go on serving runs, and we had a difficult time siding out.”Though Princeton managed to pull away with a win two years ago during its last meeting with the Raiders, Colgate enters the match with the confidence of last year’s 17-13 season and its first Patriot League Tournament berth since 2000. Much like the Tigers, Colgate has a stacked roster, returning five starters, three all-league honorees and the top libero Raiders head coach Ryan Baker has ever had. Additionally, the Raiders are still running off the high of their much-needed four-set win over rival Binghamton, which ended a three-game skid for Colgate. Princeton could face even tougher competition from Syracuse. The Tigers lost to the Orange 3-2 in a series of tight games during their first match of the ’07 season. Though Princeton’s senior starters are older, wiser and stronger than they were last year, Syracuse features 12 returning letter winners, including outside hitter Kacie MacTavish, who finished 2007 with 414 kills and 350 digs, and middle blocker Brittany Kern, who led the Orange last season with a .348 attack percentage and earned a career-high 251 kills. “Colgate has some very good ball control, and we can count on them sending the ball back to our side multiple times in one point,” Ensign said. “But in the past, Syracuse has had a lot of fire power, so I think to beat them we will have to focus on our defense and just playing our own game. I think they will be very similar to Temple.”If Ensign’s feelings are correct, the Tigers will certainly have a tough weekend ahead of them and will have to quickly correct their mistakes from Wednesday night.
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