Men's Volleyball: Princeton cruises to easy win at Dillon Gym

Trying to build on their dominant performance against George Mason last Sunday, the Tigers opened up the game strong. The Highlanders (2-18) made a comeback late in the first set, though, and the Tigers were forced to play some great last-second volleyball to pull out the first set.

The Tigers spent the next two sets putting on a show for the crowd. NJIT never had a chance in the second set as Princeton took a commanding lead that it never relinquished.

In the third set, NJIT seemed like it could make a push, but the Tigers showed their improved maturity holding off the Highlanders’ run. Their blocking was especially impressive.

In past games, the Tigers had trouble staying in front of their opponents, and they constantly fell prey to tips, but senior middle blocker Jeff McCown made it clear that it wasn’t from a lack of effort.

“The blocking on defense has always been a second focus for us,” McCown said. “Serving is, of course, hugely important, because you can’t win points in sideout volleyball without good offense, but we’ve put a lot of work into our defense and it’s finally starting to show.”

The team’s offense was as crisp as it has ever been. Junior offensive hitter Vincent Tuminelli scored a game-high 17 kills, while freshman offensive hitter Pat Schwagler recorded 14.

Junior middle blocker Keenan McCarthy was especially pleased with the team’s performance, but he noted that the Tigers weren’t about to rest on their laurels and take a break now.

“It’s all about taking the momentum,” McCarthy said. “We look forward to our high seed in the playoffs, but we want to keep playing well and keep going. We’ve really got our eye on the prize, and we’ve finally started gelling heading into the playoffs, so now is when we make our push.”

The team has one regular-season game left against Rutgers on Saturday, but the Tigers’ biggest focus is on what comes after that. With little more than a week left before the playoffs, the Tigers know that they will face some tough competition.

“Whoever we face in the first round — whether it’s Sacred Heart or Harvard — will be tough,” McCarthy said. “The end of the season was really tight, and we could have finished anywhere from second to last, and it was just our last minute performances that pulled us through. We know that every game’s going to be a challenge the whole way through the tournament, but I think we’re ready for it now.”