Women's Volleyball: Seniors go out on high note

Just four days after being swept by Yale in Dillon Gym, the Tigers (18-4 overall, 12-2 Ivy League) came roaring back to defeat Penn (13-14, 9-5) 3-1 in their final match of the season.

While Saturday’s loss to Yale ended Princeton’s Ivy League title hopes, the team had something to prove against the Quakers.

Senior outside hitter and captainParker Henritze and junior outside hitter Sheena Donohue led the way for the Tigers, thanks largely to their impressive serving down the stretch.

Henritze recorded 19 kills and six aces, while Dohohue finished with 17 and two. Henritze leads the Ivy League in service aces, averaging .44 aces per set.

Princeton actually finished with two fewer kills than Penn, but this discrepancy was offset by its 27-16 attack error advantage. The Orange and Black also held a 9-4 service ace lead.

Though Princeton got off to a good start in the match’s first set, the Tigers became unfocused toward the end of the frame, ultimately dropping the opener 29-27.

Losing the first set was surprising, as Princeton swept the Quakers easily in the teams first matchup of the year. The Tigers jumped back into a groove in the second game, though.

With Princeton battling back in the second set, Penn continued to hold even until Donohue scored a string of kills to put the Tigers up 14-11. Later in the set, Donohue took over on serve, leading Princeton on an 8-2 run to end the set at 25-16.

Having knotted the set score at one game apiece, Princeton once again came out strong in the third frame, winning the first point off a kill from Henritze. Despite the Tigers ‘consistent play, Penn surged ahead midway through the set, going on a four-point run that was ultimately ended by a strong kill from senior middle blocker Lindsey Ensign.

Ensign finished the game with nine kills and just two attack errors. The senior finished her season leading the team in both attack percentage (.411) and blocks per set (.69).

Toward the end of the set, Donohue took over again, knocking home a vicious kill to give Princeton the 25-21 advantage.

The fourth set proved to be more of the same from the Tigers, who cruised on their way to a 25-15 score in the match’s final frame. Princeton won seven of the game’s final eight points to secure the 3-1 victory.

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While Princeton may have lost its shot at an Ivy League title over the weekend, Henritze, Ensign and their fellow seniors — setter Bailey Robinson, right side hitter Kelli Grobe, outside hitter Sasha Sadrai and middle blocker Jessica Hoffman — managed to end the season on a positive note with their seventh win over Penn since arriving on campus in fall 2005.