Men's Volleyball: Tigers eke out win against NYU in home opener

It was a story of energy: From senior outside hitter Carl Hamming’s seemingly unstoppable serves to junior outside hitter Vincent Tuminelli’s match-high 11 digs, the Tigers played with a consistent fire that allowed them to prevail in a tight 3-2 victory over New York University.

Princeton (2-3 overall, 0-0 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association), riding a string of powerful serves from Hamming, quickly reached a sizeable lead over NYU (1-5 overall, 0-1 EIVA) and never looked back, winning the first game 30-22.

Hamming, who also had 19 kills in the match, said he was pleased with his serving.

“It’s always a lot easier to serve at home, and that really helped me today. I just got up to the line and ripped it, and today [the serves] happened to go in a lot. It was good for us, as a team, to be aggressive and just take it to NYU.”

NYU, appearing shaken at first by the Tigers’ fast offensive pace, began to steady its play as the second game opened. The Bobcats, who initially were unable to move the ball past senior middle blocker Jeff McCown, found their offensive range as they started the game with a series of kills to which Princeton was unable to respond.

The Tigers soon fell behind and seemed almost lifeless until McCown faked a spike at 29-30 to bring the game to a tie. A Princeton error, however, gave possession back to NYU, and the Bobcats closed things out with a score of 33-31.

Hamming attributed the team’s slow play to a sense of complacency.

“After the first game, we started to miss a few serves here and there, and we took some pressure off [NYU],” Hamming said. “A few balls went their way and our energy level dipped. We started to slow down a little bit and just take our foot off the gas.”

After losing the third game 28-30, the Tigers began the fourth with a live-or-die mentality.

“When we got to that point, I started to see a sense of urgency on the court,” head coach Sam Shweisky said.

“The guys were on their home turf and they were going to defend it. That’s when the speed started to come back and our play started to pick up again.”

Princeton raced to an early 14-4 lead on the service strength of freshman outside hitter Pat Schwagler and Tuminelli’s offensive play. Tuminelli tied with Hamming for second on the team with 19 kills in the match.

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“We really picked up the pace as we got to the fourth game,” Schwagler said. “We started playing faster and faster and were able to outpace them.”

The Tigers landed their fatal blow against NYU at 22-8 in the fourth, when they managed to dig out multiple hits to win a point that looked almost sure to go the Bobcats’ way.

“That was a huge point,” Schwagler said. “We just stuck with it and never gave in, and we managed to win it.”

With their new momentum, Princeton made no mistakes as they finished the game 30-11. The team continued their strong play as they closed out the match with a 15-7 win in the fifth game.

McCown’s play was crucial towards the end of the game, as he once again became an impenetrable force at the net and essentially stifled NYU’s offense.

Shweisky — thrilled that the team had won its home opener — was extremely pleased with the Tigers’ resilience.

“A win at home is great,” Shweisky said.

“But what I’m most proud of is probably the team’s resolve. After the first game, NYU really challenged us. They settled down and started playing some great volleyball, and we began making some mistakes. We settled down, though, and we kept our energy high."

"That’s something we’ve been working on all year, and this is a really clear example of it paying off. Lots of the credit there goes to Jeff and Carl, who made sure that morale never got low. If we keep playing like that then a lot of good things are going to happen. It was a good day.”

Schwagler, who led the team with an incredible 22 kills, echoed Shweisky’s sentiment.

“This just shows how good we can be when we play our best,” he said.

“They were a tough team but we never got down on ourselves. We were always energetic and never felt like we were out of it. We had a really great match.”