Women's Volleyball: Title hopes crushed by Yale sweep

Despite gut-wrenchingly close games, the team was downed by Yale, 3-0. The Tigers (17-4 overall, 11-2 Ivy League) made some fantastic plays throughout the match but were frustrated by the Bulldogs’ (19-4, 13-1) scrappy defense and in the process conceded the Ivy League title. Princeton lost the title despite its 3-0 domination of Brown (12-14, 4-10) on Friday night.

The game’s 3-0 scoreline belied the close competition during the game. Bolstered by the cheers of the home fans, Princeton took an early lead in the first game. That did not last long, as Yale quickly retaliated to even up the match at six. From then it was a constant battle over who would go further to keep the ball in play. There were no easy points for either team.

“I think its pretty typical that you see a lot of back and forth in games like this,” senior outside hitter and captain Parker Henritze said. “You don’t see long rallies in games with teams that aren’t on equal footing. You see them between two good teams. They are a good team and we are a good team, so we kind of anticipated it.”

The Tigers had three set points — three opportunities to win the game and alter the course of the match — but each time Yale sided out to even the score. Princeton tied the game at 26 after a dig by freshman libero Hillary Ford, but the Tigers could not light up the board again. At game point Yale spiked the ball deep, and a bad bump forced senior setter Bailey Robinson to try to tip the ball over the net instead of setting it. Robinson could not get a good grip on the ball, and it tumbled down her side of the net, giving the Bulldogs the first game, 28-26.

“We didn’t finish,” Henritze said. “We played timid. The last five points they kept swinging, they kept playing all-out defense, and that really pushed them over the edge. Also their libero had a really, really good match. She had a lot of big saves.”

Though Yale had the momentum, the second game was just as tense as the first and included nine deadlocks. Princeton amassed its biggest lead of the night early in game two, but it couldn’t withstand a Bulldog surge. The Tigers made several good plays, but Yale’s defense returned many shots that seemed destined to end the point, ruining any rhythm the Tigers tried to establish. The Tigers were unable to make clean or precise plays, and the Bulldogs’ refusal to give up on any ball won the game, 28-26.

The atmosphere on the Princeton side of the gym after the second loss was noticeably more subdued. While the Bulldogs’ fans got louder and more boisterous, the home fans were quiet. The stunned and exhausted attitude emanating from the stands was echoed on the court.

“I think that if we had won the first game or the second game things might have been different,” Henritze said. “These close matches just take so much out of you, so that the team that wins the first game just gets that extra momentum, and it plays out in the third game. It takes three times as much energy to come back from two games down as it does to come back from just one. It just takes an inordinate amount of energy.”

Yale built a strong 17-10 third-set lead, its biggest of the night. Princeton, however, was not ready to give up the championship without a fight, closing the lead to two points at 23-21. But the Bulldogs showed why they had won 15 of their last 16 matches, pushing the match to game point before slamming the ball in to end the game.

While Senior Night might not have been all Henritze hoped for, she led the team offensively with 14 kills while also contributing defensively with 12 digs. Additionally, junior outside hitter Sheena Donohue, reigning Ivy League Volleyball Player of the Week had 11 kills and 14 digs, and Robinson had 35 assists. Meanwhile, Ford held down the defense, leading the team with 17 digs.

A day earlier, the Tigers’ fortunes had looked more promising. After the Bears took a 7-5 lead in the first game, Princeton rallied behind their deep cast of offensive stars. Freshman middle blocker Cathryn Quinn and Donohue notched back-to-back kills with the score tied at 17, and the Tigers never looked back en route to a 25-22, 25-12, 25-18 victory.

Senior middle blocker Lindsey Ensign led the team with 14 kills, and Henritze hit an efficient .526 while tallying 11 kills.