Men's Volleyball: Tigers face major challenge in semifinal

But the Tigers’ semifinal record against the Nittany Lions is nothing to be surprised at. Princeton is just one of the long list of teams that has fallen victim to Penn State’s dominance. Since 2000, the EIVA powerhouse has won every single semifinal match it has played, only losing two of the 41 sets it has have played in that span.

On Thursday, Princeton (13-9 overall, 9-5 EIVA), the fourth seed will play the seemingly perpetually first seeded Nittany Lions (21-7, 13-1) in the semifinals. The last time Penn State lost an EIVA champion was 1998, when Princeton handed Penn State its last semifinal loss of the millennium and earned a ticket to the finals, which it won against Rutgers-Newark. Since then, however, Penn State has been virtually unstoppable in the conference.

Earlier this season, it was an entirely different story. Penn State’s chances of being first-seed were highly questionable after a series of huge upsets. Harvard (17-8, 10-4) swept the Nittany Lions in February to end their 51 consecutive game winning streak in the EIVA. Princeton in turn beat Harvard, which is the third seed in this weekend’s playoffs, 3-1 on the Tigers’ home court. That was after Princeton had already demonstrated the threat posed to Penn State’s reign after the Tigers opened their season with a 3-1 win over currently No. 7 nationally ranked UC Santa Barbara. No team in the EIVA has beaten any of the squads ranked in the top six, but Princeton has come the closest.

Since then, though, Princeton has entered a downward slide. It put up little fight in the final two sets in their first match against Penn State. Princeton failed to win critical matches against conference opponents, including its second against Harvard, and both matches against second-seeded George Mason — matches that would’ve earned the Tigers a higher seed, and would’ve spared them from playing Penn State in the semifinals.

The Tigers offense has faltered. In their most recent game against the Patriots (15-11, 11-3), Princeton was dropped in three straight by a George Mason team that held junior outside hitter Pat Schwagler to a -0.40 hitting percentage. Princeton has only won two of the last five of its conference matches, in no small part to an offense readjusting to having sophomore outside hitter Cody Kessel, last year’s EIVA Newcomer of the Year and a first team All-EIVA selection this year, return from an injury to his hand that kept him off the court for three weeks.

The Tigers will also most likely enter Thursday’s match without sophomore middle blocker Will Siroky, who has been out with an ankle injury. Siroky has been a centerpiece of the Tiger defense this year. He is second on the team in total blocks with 73, right behind senior middle blocker and second team all-EIVA Michael Dye with 76. Siroky also leads the team in blocks per set, with 1.06, good to put him in 21st in the nation.

To make it past Penn State, Princeton will need to rely on the offensive spark that it showed early on in the season. Schwagler must step up and play to the potential that the former EIVA Newcomer of the Year and first-team all-EIVA has displayed in the past. He is 12th in the nation in kills per set, with 3.70, and knows how to put points up on the scoreboard — he is No. 7 in points per set with 4.54, and only one other EIVA player, Logan Patterson of St. Francis, joins him in the top 20 at No. 13. Junior setter Davis Waddell will give his hitters plentiful opportunities to make an impact. Waddell is 16th nationally in assists per set, with 10.05. Freshman outside hitter Devin Stearns will be looking to make a difference in his first collegiate postseason and continue to build on a strong season. The rookie follows Schwagler and Kessel in kills per set with 2.56. Defensively, the Tigers will rally behind Dye, as well as rely on sophomore libero Tony Ensbury to continue to cover the court and make key digs. Junior middle blocker Brad Howard, who has been average 0.77 blocks per set, will likely step in for Siroky to round out the defense.

Penn State has not lost the first set of a match in the semifinals since 1999 — the year Princeton stormed its way to the championship and the last time any EIVA squad besides the Nittany Lions made an appearance in the NCAA tournament. For Princeton to repeat that success, it needs to go back in time: back to the offensive talent and cohesion it showed earlier this season. If the Tigers want to win, they need to start at the beginning and win that first set.