Sports Shorts: Women’s Volleyball and Men’s Water Polo in early-season action

Tigers drop two and win one at Temple Invitational

While most of their fellow students reacquainted themselves with campus, the women’s volleyball team resumed action at nearby Temple University. Philadelphia’s Owls (6-0 overall) hosted Princeton (1-2), University of North Carolina at Charlotte (5-3) and Holy Cross (0-6). The Tigers came away with a win and two losses, falling to the undefeated home side as well as UNC Charlotte’s 49ers, while topping the still winless and fairly hopeless — they have won only three sets over six best-of-five contests — Holy Cross Crusaders.

Match one of the Tigers’ weekend went to four sets (scores of 25-21, 23-25, 25-22 and 25-19) as UNC Charlotte outlasted the Princeton women. Initial prospects appeared robust for the Orange and Black who took their largest lead of the contest early, jumping out to a 7-2 advantage in the first set. A hard-fought second set yielded Princeton’s lone set win. The lead changed hands twice during that 23-25 victory, while the teams saw the score tied a match-high nine times. In the final frame, the 49ers were able to establish a crushing 18-9 lead before cruising to the set and match victory.

Princeton’s second match was a fairly dominant showing against Holy Cross. Junior right side hitter Kendall Peterkin led her side in kills with 20, followed by a strong 16 from sophomore hitter Cara Mattaliano. A balanced defensive effort saw Peterkin, Mattaliano,sophomore setter Lauren Miller and freshman hitter Pauli King, tally 13, 12, 13 and 14, respectively. To its credit, Holy Cross controlled the closely contested second set en route to a 25-23 win. Otherwise, Princeton held the lead or a share thereof for all three set wins.

Temple protected its courts determinedly, going undefeated on the weekend, but had some trouble staving off the visiting Tigers during the invitational’s final contest. Despite a commanding 17-9 lead halfway through the first frame, Princeton fell victim to a furious Owl rally, which saw the home team score 16 points to only two from the visitors.

Junior defensive specialist Sarah Daschbach recorded a team-high 53 digs on the weekend, including a 23 in the course of play against the Owls.

Peterkin took home Ivy League Player of the Week honors in addition to being named to the all-tournament team at Temple. In the Tigers’ final game of the weekend, played against the host, she recorded a team-high 24 kills and 22 digs. Expectations are high for the junior standout, who last year ranked second and third in points and kills respectively for the Ivy League. With a 20-20 performance already under her belt, the future looks bright for the hitter.

The Dillon Gymnasium denizens will make their way to Delaware and Rutgers in the coming weeks for non-conference play. Ivy League competition will begin for the Tigers on September 26^th at Penn, with the home opener against Cornell the following week.

Men’s Water Polo undefeated in opening weekend

Three matches resulted in three wins for the Tigers home and season opener at DeNunzio Pool. No. 13 Princeton (3-0) hosted Saint Francis University (0-3), as well as conference rival Johns Hopkins University. Brown University was scheduled to round out the tournament but cancelled before making the trip.

Saturday’s fixture pitted the Collegiate Water Polo Association Southern championship finalists against each other in a rematch of last year’s 11-9 Saint Francis year-end victory. This time, the Orange and Black got the better of their Loretto Pennsylvania rivals.

The home team had jumped to a 5-0 advantage by the halftime break, establishing a lead they would not relinquish.

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Another strong first half – Princeton held a 7-4 lead through two quarters – powered the swimmers to a 10-8 victory over Johns Hopkins. Even four consecutive goals from the Blue Jays weren’t enough to overcome their hosts.

In their final game of the weekend, the Tigers witnessed somewhat of an offensive explosion, tallying 20 goals in a 20-11 drubbing of Iona. Ten of the 14 outfield players registered goals across the four quarters of play.

The weekend’s balanced offensive approach resulted in four players with five goals and one, senior center Kayj Shannon, with six off of 12 shots. His classmate, attack Drew Hoffenberg, had a balanced stat line with a pair of goals to go with three assists, three steals and four drawn ejections.

New talent was on display during the early season invitational. Freshman Vojislav Mitrovic of Serbia joins junior Alex Gow on the goalkeeping staff. The 6’ 4” netminder brings experience even as a rookie, having represented his country at the FINA World Junior under-20 championship, in which the Serbians brought home gold medals. Mitrovic was impressive in his first two starts, tallying 15 saves against St. Francis and 16 against Johns Hopkins. Gow received the third start of weekend and added 15 saves in his first win of the season.

Another freshman player made waves in the early-season action. Freshman attack Jordan Colina managed five goals on the weekend while adding a team-best five steals to his stat line. His classmate center Eric Bowen efficiently converted five scores on six shots.

The upcoming weekend will pit Princeton against California Baptist University, MIT and University of California, Irvine during Brown’s Bruno Fall Classic.