Ivy League title defense kicks off at Palestra

After a month of non-conference matches, the women’s volleyball team finally begins the most important, most anticipated and most challenging aspect of its schedule: the Ivy League season.

The Tigers (6-2 overall) will hit the Palestra court this Saturday against Penn (4-8), which has maintained its status as one of the strongest teams in the Ivy League for more than a decade. Princeton enters the match with added momentum after sweeping the Seton Hill Tournament, where the Tigers had the undeniable mental maturity of a championship team.

“We’ve got a pretty balanced offense,” senior outside hitter and captain Parker Henritze said. “We can definitely attack from the outside and middle, and our setter can set everything equally, which makes it hard to defend our offense.”

In its quest to replicate last year’s magical 14-0 season, Princeton will look to several team leaders for guidance. Among them is Henritze, who leads all Ivy players in service aces, averaging .48 per match. Senior middle blocker Lindsey Ensign has also been a fearsome offensive force this season, leading the Ivies in hitting percentage at .424.

But the Tigers will not rely solely on veterans to pull them through the match against Penn. Freshman libero Hillary Ford and freshman middle blocker Cathryn Quinn have both proven that they are anything but your typical clueless rookies. While Quinn dominated during a Sept. 20 match against Colgate, racking up 10 kills and hitting .500, Ford has proven a crucial component of Princeton’s defense, averaging 3.95 digs per game.

Though Princeton has dominated the Quakers in their last five meetings, Penn’s roster boasts a balanced lineup and has returned several of last year’s starters.

“I’ve played Penn six times before, so I’m pretty familiar with their team,” Ensign said. “They are a really tall team and put up a solid block, which in the past has been something we’ve struggled with. They also put a lot of power on the outsides, which is going to be difficult for us to block.”

One potential thorn in the Tigers’ quest to complete another perfect Ivy season will be Quaker libero Madison Wojciechowski, who piled up 457 digs last season.

“Penn’s libero is really good,” Ensign said. “She is someone we have to avoid serving and hitting to when we’re playing defense.”

The return of several star players hasn’t been enough, however, to compensate for the graduation of two of Penn’s top starters. The Quakers enter this weekend’s match on a three-game losing streak. Penn has repeatedly failed to capitalize on winning opportunities, dropping a 2-0 lead twice this season, and has recently been betrayed by its offense, which hit only .073 in a loss to St. Mary’s last weekend.

This is all good news for Princeton, which has also experienced offensive issues that cost the Tigers two matches and caused others to drag on unnecessarily.

“Overall, concentration definitely faltered sometimes,” Ensign said. “In certain circumstances, we couldn’t finish. We would be beating Juniata until 22 or 23, and then we would take a break and let them get back on us. This weekend we have to make sure we get to 25 no matter what.”

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Despite Princeton’s struggles with errors and hitting this season, the Tigers can place faith in their long history of dominating the Quakers. Last season, Princeton played its Ivy League opener against Penn and outlasted its Ivy rival in a thrilling five-game victory. And with the exception of Jenny McReynolds ’08, the Tigers are returning every starter from last year. Henritze, however, stressed that Princeton won’t take this win for granted.

“No matter what happens or what each teams’ records are, [Penn is] always one of our biggest rivals of the year,” Henritze said. “It’s a grudge match, and now that we’ve entered our Ivy League season, there is no more messing around.”