After the first set, it looked as though Princeton (5-5 overall, 2-2 EIVA Tait) might run away with the match. The Tigers stormed to a 30-21 first-set win in Dillon Gymnasium, but the Eagles (7-3, 4-2) responded with two workmanlike 30-28 and 30-27 victories. Princeton fought off a match point to win the fourth 31-29, but Juniata controlled the final frame, a 15-10 match-deciding win.
“It’s frustrating,” senior setter and captain Brandon Denham said. “We had every opportunity to win and didn’t put it together.”
Junior middle blocker Jeff McCown led all participants with 21 kills, with senior middle Mike Vincent picking up 17 and outside hitters senior Phil Rosenberg and sophomore Vincent Tuminelli getting 15 each. Vincent also served five aces. Senior libero Ka’ohu Berg-Hee played admirably in the Tigers’ defense despite being afflicted with a stomach flu and fever.
The loss showcased two very different sides of the Princeton team. During the first game, the team fired on all cylinders, hitting a blistering .553 for the set. But during the fifth game, the Tigers had only five kills and five errors on 24 attack attempts.
“We played extremely well [in the first game],” Denham said. “If we play like that all the time, we will win a lot more games … We should be able to play at that level.”
The opening set saw sparkling attacking volleyball from both teams, but Princeton was able to slowly build a lead. Up 27-21, Princeton capitalized on a kill from junior rightside hitter Carl Hamming, a solo block by Vincent on the opposing middle and a thumping crosscourt kill from Rosenberg to gain the 1-0 match advantage.
Anything but shell-shocked, Juniata responded by taking eight of the first 10 points in the second game, and capitalizing on a couple on errant shots by the Tigers. The sides battled evenly for much of the set, with Juniata maintaining a six-point lead as late as 20-14. But Princeton came back: An ace by Vincent that landed just inside the corner closest to the Princeton fans tied the game at 28, forced Juniata into a timeout and drew a roar from the Dillon crowd. But the Eagles came from the timeout fired up and took the game with two quick kills.
The next two sets were similar to each other, albeit with different results, as each team committed a handful of service errors. In the third game, with the score knotted at 18, Juniata took six of the next seven points for a lead it didn’t relinquish.
Though Princeton came out firing in the fourth set — Vincent hit three straight aces for a 9-5 lead — the Tigers committed eight service errors, allowing Juniata back in with 20 ties and seven lead changes. But after a Hamming error gave a match point to the visitors, emphatic slams from Rosenberg and McCown and a block by Hamming stole the set for Princeton.
“We [had the momentum],” Denham said about the fourth-set win. “And it continued at the very beginning of the fifth game, too.”
After Princeton took a 3-0 lead in the fifth game, the wheels started coming off. The Tigers were outscored 15-7 over the rest of the match, committing errors and giving up Eagle kills. The final point, an uncontested Juniata kill, sent the sizeable number of visiting fans to their feet as those on the Juniata bench mobbed their teammates on the court. On the other side of the net, the dejected Princeton players looked around as though they were wondering what had just happened.
“It was really a lot of mental mistakes that lost the game for us,” Denham said. “We know we are a better team than that. We need to play to our potential, and that loss won’t happen.”
Unfortunately for the Tigers, they will not have a chance to avenge the loss this season unless the two teams meet in the EIVA playoffs. It was the second big win in two days for the Eagles, who dismissed No. 14 George Mason on Thursday in four games.
Princeton returns to Dillon on Saturday to take on Tait Division foe Springfield.
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