Men's Volleyball: Princeton to hit the road to take on Juniata, George Mason

The men’s volleyball team is no stranger to tough contests, having clinched six of its nine home games in marathon five-set matches. And the Tigers don’t succumb to the pressure either, since they clinched three of these six wins with nail-biting two-point victories. This weekend is likely to be a similar story, as Princeton (10-8 overall, 4-4 Eastern Intercolleigate Volleyball Association Tait Division) takes on Juniata (8-12, 2-6) on Friday and George Mason (5-16, 2-4) on Sunday on the road.

“[Head] Coach [Sam] Shweisky constantly designs drills that challenge us to fight through a lot of obstacles," senior middle blocker Jeff McCown said of the team’s remarkable strength in close contests. “I would also like to think that this year's team has shown better dedication to our lifting program, which i think is paying dividends. I think that has certainly contributed to our resiliency.”

The Tigers are coming off an emotionally charged weekend, where they made an inspirational comeback to down Ramapo College 3-2 at home last Saturday. Though the Roadrunners led for much of the fifth set, McCown’s ace to set up a match ball and junior outside hitter Vincent Tuminelli’s 15th kill of the match secured a Princeton victory. Princeton’s home contest against Juniata in March was similarly down to the wire, but the Tigers pulled off a five-set win.

“I think our team also has a psychological edge at this point in the season because of the number of five-set matches we've played,” McCown said. “At this point, if we get to the fifth set, the whole team expects to win, and that certainly helps us when things look bleak.”

As the Tigers' final Tait match of the season, the game against George Mason will be crucial for determining their playoff seed. The Patriots have lost five straight matches, not having won since March 20.

Princeton will go into this weekend confident in its endurance but ready to take the lead early.

“Our constant struggle this year has been learning how to finish teams,” McCown said. “I think our coach does a great job of scouting teams and preparing us for matches, so from a strategical side, we will be well prepared. We will continue to serve conservatively and try to force teams to outplay us at the net. For this team, the bigger hurdle is locking in mentally early on. The challenge is finding a way to focus the way we do at crunch time throughout an entire match.”