Women's Volleyball: Princeton faces must-win games

Last weekend, the women’s volleyball team proved that, despite their struggles in the preseason, the Tigers still dream of adding their 15th Ivy League Championship to their trophy case. But if Princeton can’t pull off another sweep in its upcoming matches against Brown and Yale at home, the Tigers are in for a rude awakening from their all-too-short dream season.

Riding the momentum of last week’s sweep of Cornell and Columbia, Princeton (6-12 overall, 4-3 Ivy League) faces Brown (5-13, 1-6) today and defending Ivy League champion Yale (16-2, 6-1) on Saturday.

The Tigers have moved up to third in the Ivy League standings but that still leaves them struggling to catch up to Penn (16-4, 7-0) and Yale. With just five games left after this weekend, Princeton needs to beat the Bulldogs if it wants to hold on to any hopes of making it to a championship match.

“We definitely need to be able to beat [these teams] this weekend,” freshman outside hitter Lydia Rudnick said. “So far Penn is undefeated, and beating Yale will bump us closer to Penn.”

Fortunately, the Tigers have several standout players to rely on in this do-or-die situation. Among them is senior outside hitter and co-captain Sheena Donohue, who was named Ivy League Player of the Week after a dominant weekend performance in which she averaged 5.4 kills and 4.1 digs per set. Donohue leads the team offensively, averaging 3.22 kills and 3.51 points per set, and is followed closely by Rudnick, who averages 3.09 kills and 3.44 points per set. Rudnick was also recognized as Rookie of the Week for her indomitable play against Cornell and Columbia, hitting .278 overall and scoring 38 points over the weekend.

“I think that we improved a lot [last] weekend,” Rudnick said. “We are playing better as a team and getting used to playing alongside each other. We have a little confidence after winning those two games at home.”

Before Princeton hits the court for its much-anticipated match against Yale, the Tigers must first prove their mettle against Ivy League underdog Brown. The Bears have struggled for much of their season — they have won 24 sets to their opponents’ 43 and have 405 errors to their opponents’ 346 — but have recently witnessed an upturn in their season.

After falling to Harvard in three sets, the Bears swept Dartmouth to earn their first Ivy League win of the season this past weekend. Brown has an extremely strong set of servers — the Bears have 114 aces to the Tigers’ 25 — and has recently played very scrappy defense. Though Princeton came out on top when it played the Bears earlier this month, the Tigers’ lack of consistency ensured that the match was too close for comfort.

If Princeton doesn’t step up and finish sets, they may not be so lucky this time around.

“We want to make sure that we are always improving while playing them and don’t let up, because anybody in the league can beat you if you let them,” Rudnick said. “We want to make sure that we are always playing on a high level every time, because we want to be able to beat teams in three [games] and not have to go to the fourth or fifth game. ”

Though there is no doubt that the Tigers must win their game against Brown if they want to stay in the running for a championship, Princeton’s matchup with the Bulldogs is undoubtedly the most anticipated home game of the season.

“All of the older girls on our team definitely have some animosity towards Yale, and that has definitely rubbed off on the rest of us,” Rudnick said. “They are one of our biggest rivals. Last year, they won the league, and we got second, so we definitely want to come back and beat them this year.”

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Unfortunately for fans of the Orange and Black, Yale is an incredibly tough opponent. The Bulldogs lead the league in hitting percentage, blocks and digs. The last time they faced the Tigers, the Bulldogs’ overpowering offense — which held a .314 hitting percentage in the contest — ended the match in three games.

The biggest threat on the Bulldogs’ squad is outside hitter Cat Dailey, who leads the Ivy League in kills and points and ranks fourth in service aces. The last time Dailey hit the court against Princeton, she had a match-high 14 kills.

The Tigers will need to step up their defense if they want to shut down Dailey and the rest of Yale’s formidable offensive squad. If it doesn’t, Princeton may have to wait another year before getting a chance to call itself a title contender.