Men's Volleyball: Tuminelli excels in home win

“In general, we play a lot better at home,” senior outside hitter Phil Rosenberg said. “We had a tough weekend playing two road games. It’s always nice to be back playing in front of our home crowd.”

Both teams struggled to grab the momentum early, trading points in the first game until the score was tied at 20. Princeton had a few opportunities to take an early lead, but the Tigers struggled consistently to get the ball past the NYU defense. From there, the Violets went on a 10-5 run, coming up with a kill whenever it seemed like Princeton would even the score. NYU ended the game 30-25 on a block off a kill attempt from junior rightside hitter Carl Hamming. The Tigers recorded a paltry .138 hitting percentage in the first game, their worst of the match.

“We haven’t played to our potential yet,” Rosenberg said. “We’re getting there. Hopefully, when we hit midseason, we’ll reach our peak. We still have to get a lot better. We should have beaten that team much quicker.”

In the second game, Princeton started to break down the Violet block, taking an 18-13 lead behind improved offensive play from Rosenberg and Tuminelli. After the Tigers uncorked a 4-1 run to take a five-point lead, NYU was forced to take its first timeout of the game.

The short pause in play did little to stop the Tigers, who stormed to a 30-21 win to knot the score at one. After being blocked to end the first game, Hamming came up with an authoritative block of his own to end the second.

“We just woke up. We didn’t come to play right away,” Rosenberg said. “We realized that they are not that bad of a team, so we actually had to step up and play some good volleyball to win. We get pretty streaky sometimes, so the first game didn’t start off well.”

A dispute over the score led to a five-minute break in play early in the third game. Princeton was not distracted by the cessation in play, quickly extending its lead after the break to 12-7 and forcing NYU to take another timeout. The teams exchanged points after the timeout until a ferocious spike from senior setter Brandon Denham excited the crowd and gave Princeton an 18-14 lead. Motivated by Denham’s strike, the Tigers controlled the rest of the game, winning 30-24.

“[Tuminelli] has stepped up big time. He gets up high and is really aggressive,” Rosenberg said. “He always goes for the kill, which is what we need.”

The fourth game was disrupted early by the unexpected appearance on court of a Princeton supporter on rollerblades. After the interruption, the Tigers jumped to an early advantage before NYU went on a mid-game run to turn the score around and take a 16-13 lead. Princeton would not be deterred, however, storming back to take the fourth game 30-24 and wrap up the 3-1 victory. The match ended on consecutive blocks from junior middle blocker Jeff McCown.

Despite its convincing win over NYU, Princeton is not resting on its laurels. The Tigers know they have much to improve on as they head into the heart of their season.

“Our blocking is not there yet,” Rosenberg said. “Against better-hitting teams, that needs to improve. Blocking and passing are the two things we need to work on right now.”