Women's Volleyball: Strong finish falls short of Ivy title

As the women’s volleyball team prepared to receive on match point, everybody on the court knew who was going to get the game’s final set. But that didn’t stop Sheena Donohue: The senior outside hitter drilled the ball off the block and onto the floor, clinching the victory and ending her final match at Dillon Gymnasium.

Donohue and the other seniors will have very positive memories of their final days on their home court, as the Tigers (11-13 overall, 9-4 Ivy League) swept the weekend to extend their winning streak to four games. Princeton downed Dartmouth (11-13, 7-7) in five sets Friday evening, 17-25, 25-21, 25-17, 23-25, 15-12, and avenged an earlier loss to rival Harvard (12-13, 8-6) on Saturday by scores of 25-27, 26-24, 25-22, 25-23.

“We definitely wanted to show [Harvard] that we were the better team, especially in our house,” Donohue said. “I love this gym, and I love the team and everyone, and a win just makes it that much better and more bittersweet for my senior year.”

Donohue has had plenty of success in Dillon over the years, and this weekend was no exception. The senior, who was among the team’s leading attackers in each of her four seasons, paced the Tigers with 26 kills against Dartmouth and 25 over the Crimson.

The middle of the net was dominated by Harvard players, especially sophomore Anne Carroll Ingersoll, who notched 16 kills on just 27 swings. But the Tigers controlled the outsides, as Donohue was far from the only hitter to step up. Right-side hitter Taylor Carroll also had a strong Senior Night, earning 13 kills, and freshman outside hitter Lydia Rudnick added 18 of her own.

A tactical change before the second set helped the Tigers defend the outside. Princeton overcame a five-point deficit in the first game only to blow a 24-22 lead, and it was torched by outside hitter Mikaelle Cornerie for six kills in the frame. But the Tigers switched from their 5-1 setting rotation to a 6-2 one, bringing both sophomore setter Michaela Venuti and freshman setter Molly Bagshaw into the game and allowing the Tigers to play bigger blockers up front. They held Cornerie to just nine kills over the final three games.

“We toyed with the 6-2 in practices but never used it in a match,” head coach Jolie Ward said. “It helps us create a better system on the front line defensively against the outside hitters. Harvard’s outside hitters were doing a good job of scoring above our block, so we made that change to help us on the defensive side.”

Neither team maintained a lead for long throughout the game. Midway through the second set, the Crimson took a five-point lead, but a kill from Rudnick after a timeout sparked a run to cut the margin to one. Three consecutive Princeton points fed by poor Harvard passing gave the Tigers a lead late in the set, but they dropped two game points to fall into a tie at 24. This time, however, Princeton rebounded: Carroll earned a kill out of the middle, and Cornerie missed long to end the game.

The third set told a similar story, as three consecutive kills from opposite hitter Chelsea Ono Horn broke a tie in the Crimson’s favor. The Tigers rallied back to tie the game at 22. Rudnick then took over, putting two balls to the floor to earn another two game points; Princeton needed just one point and took advantage of a Harvard hitting error to win the set.

Both teams came out firing to open the fourth set, earning kills on all but one of the first 15 points. Princeton’s outsides were unstoppable in the frame, as Donohue notched eight kills and Rudnick added six. A 5-0 Tiger run, capped by a block from Carroll and sophomore middle blocker Cathryn Quinn, appeared to have put the Tigers ahead for good at 20-16. But Harvard refused to quit, scrambling its way to four consecutive points to tie the game at 22. The Tigers needed one more push for the win, and they again went to the outside, getting a kill from Rudnick and two from Donohue to finish off the match.

The victory was even more impressive given that Princeton was less than 24 hours removed from a thrilling five-set win over Dartmouth. The Big Green got off to a 6-2 start in the first game and never looked back, coasting to a 25-17 win behind five kills from outside hitter Madeline MacGregor.

But Quinn took over in the second set, putting six balls to the floor to help the Tigers emerge victorious from a back-and-forth frame. Princeton took the third as easily as Dartmouth had the first, using an 8-2 run to pull away for good.

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Yet the Big Green recovered to play a much tougher fourth set. The game featured rapid and dramatic momentum swings, as the two teams combined for an astounding 10 runs of three points or more. Ultimately, Dartmouth got the last word, taking the final three points of the frame to win 25-23 and set up a deciding fifth set.

Both teams clearly aimed to set up their best players in the final game, and the strategy paid off. Donohue and Big Green offensive hitter Madeline Baird each notched five kills in the shortened frame to pull to a 12-12 tie. But with the game on the line and Donohue in the back row, it was Rudnick’s time to shine. After a Dartmouth service error, the freshman put two balls to the floor to end the match.

“The whole back end of the season has really been a great climb,” Ward said. “We’ve made improvements and adjustments, and the team has fought hard to establish themselves as a dominant force in this league. At the beginning it was a little harder for us because we had a lot of new people learning how to work together, but the end of season has shown that we are a quality team.”

Princeton finishes its season at Penn on Wednesday. The Quakers (21-5, 12-1) clinched the Ivy League title with a victory over Dartmouth on Saturday and defeated the Tigers three sets to one in their first meeting this season.