Men's Volleyball: Princeton roars back in Tait win

The men’s volleyball team split two games at Dillon Gymnasium this weekend. Princeton (5-5 overall, 1-2 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tait Divison) completed a thrilling 3-2 comeback over St. Francis (8-7, 1-3) the day after its tough 3-0 loss to No. 7 Penn State (13-2, 5-0). Comebacks are always fantastic, and Princeton’s win over St. Francis was made a little more special by the fact that it gave the Tigers their first Tait Division victory of the season.

Facing Penn State presented a tall task for the Tigers. The Nittany Lions won the NCAA title in 2008 and have owned the EIVA, winning the league championship a record 21 times. The Tigers’ starting lineup was riddled with injury and illness, but they still put up a strong fight in their match.

The first game was rough for both teams early on, but Penn State quickly asserted itself for a commanding 30-16 win. The second set was no more eventful. Penn State won the game 30-13 and looked primed for an easy sweep.

Junior setter John Morris provided a late spark for the Tigers. Morris subbed in for the third game, and Princeton came close to tying the game before falling 30-25. There were a few bright spots in the loss. Junior offensive hitter Vincent Tuminelli finished the match with 12 kills, and sophomore setter Scott Liljestrom had 15 assists. But Princeton just did not have enough to pull out the victory.

Saturday was a completely different story. The Tigers came back from a 2-1 game deficit to win their match against St. Francis 15-9 in the fifth and final set. Princeton won the first set 30-28 but then slipped in the next two sets, allowing St. Francis to win 30-25 and 30-28.

The team bounced back in the fourth set, capturing a 30-24 game to even the match, and then rode out its momentum to the victory. Freshman outside hitter Pat Schwagler had a strong performance with seven huge kills in the fourth set to bring Princeton back from the brink. Not only were the Tigers in their offensive flow, but the team’s defense was as solid as it has been all season.

This win was the Tigers’ first in the Tait Division and brought their overall record back to .500. There remains much work to be done in the coming weeks, however. The Penn State game certainly emphasized the areas that need improvement. The team’s potent offense tends to stagnate at points, but in general, that is the stronger aspect of Princeton’s game.

Princeton was missing key players who could have made a huge difference in the game. Those who did participate, though, weren’t making any excuses about their performance.

“Even without those players, we still could have made it a much tighter match than it turned out to be,” Liljestrom said. “Our defense needs to get better. We need to play scrappy and get balls up to give us more chances to set our hitters, who have been really effective.”

Overall, though, this was a good showing for the Tigers, who have some key divisional matchups approaching in the coming weeks. After opening their season with a difficult road trip against talented California teams, the Tigers have gone 5-2 since returning to the East Coast.

Princeton will have to up its game to approach the top of the EIVA conference, and its next four games will be a good indicator of where the team stands relative to the rest of the Tait Division. Princeton faces Juniata and Springfield at home in the next two weeks, followed by visits to Penn State and St. Francis to complete the season series with these squads.