Men’s volleyball fall against ranked opponents over spring break

Earlier this season, a home win over then-No. 13 Harvard marked just the third time in program history that the Princeton men’s volleyball team (8-7 overall, 4-1 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) had registered two wins over ranked opponents — its first had come against Cal State Northridge. During their spring break trip to the Rust Belt, the Tigers faced a pair of ranked opponents in No. 11 Ohio State (16-6, 7-3 Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) and No. 14 Ball State (12-11, 5-6 MIVA) but failed to grab that elusive third top-15 win.

The Buckeyes edged out Princeton in all three sets by scores of 25-20, 25-21 and 25-21. A perhaps more frustrating 3-2 loss came for the Orange and Black the following day against the Ball State Cardinals.

The home side took the first set by a narrow 26-24 margin before Princeton charged back to win the second by a dominant 25-15 margin. The Tigers’ powerful attack, which had converted at a 50 percent rate in the previous set, faded in the following two. Ball State dominated late in the third set to take away a 25-22 win before Princeton edged out a 25-23 set win to equalize at 2-2.

In the decisive fifth set, three points marked the largest lead for either team. Ball State had this advantage only once with the scoreboard reading 5-2. Otherwise, almost nothing separated the two sides.

Princeton established a 14-13 lead to earn the first of its two match balls. The Tigers could not convert either of their game-winning opportunities, allowing the Cardinals to complete their home defense with a 20-18 final set win.

Senior outside hitter Cody Kessel was the most prolific Tiger against Ohio State, registering 10 kills on 25 total attempts. Sophomore blocker Junior Oboh managed a highly efficient five kills on 7 attempts.

Against Ball State, Kessel and Oboh were once again dynamic, registering 23 and 21 kills respectively. Meanwhile, senior blocker Will “Wild Bill” Sirkoy and freshman outside hitter Kendall Ratter each tallied three service aces. Junior outside hitter Devin Stearns led all players with 13 digs while adding 26 kills.

“Junior in particular has been crushing it out of the middle,” senior libero Tony Ensbury remarked of his team’s younger talent. “He’s really become a primary threat in the league. He’s a huge force and really alters other team’s game plans. Also, Kendall Ratter, the freshman, has been playing a lot better in the last few games. There’s a lot of pressure to come in and deal with passing and hitting in your first year. He’s really handled it well and picked up his game as the season’s gone on.”

This weekend, Princeton will return to conference play with away matchups against Penn State (10-9, 4-0 EIVA) and St. Francis (4-14, 2-2 EIVA).

No. 8 Penn State boasts one of the EIVA’s greatest-ever talents and one of the most dominant players in collegiate volleyball. Senior outside hitter Aaron Russell, a first-team all-American in 2014, has won back-to-back conference player of the year awards. It will take a complete effort from the Tigers to match the completeness of Russell’s game.

Five additional all-EIVA selections from 2014 round out the Nittany Lions’ roster. With this squad, Penn State pulled off a 3-2 win over Ohio State this past weekend.

“It really comes down to serving and passing,” Ensbury said when asked what would make the difference against their long-time rivals. “Penn State always plays well in their gym. They serve really hard and are always really good. But this year we’ve kind of changed our philosophy. We’ve taken the reins off and are hitting our serves as hard as we can. If we’re serving and passing well, I think we have a good chance to beat them.”

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Ensbury recalls last year’s home win over the Nittany Lions as one of the proudest moments in his collegiate career.

“That was the first time we’ve done that since 1998,” he noted. “We’d been close. My freshman year we almost beat them in four games but couldn’t put it away.”

While St. Francis does not pose nearly as great a threat, six of the seven sets the Tigers contested with the Red Flash in 2014 were decided by five or fewer points. To emerge with a 3-1 away win last season, Princeton had to outlast its conference rivals in a 31-29 fourth set.

In some disappointing news, Princeton lost some depth this past week with junior hitter Mike Bagnell suffering a season-ending injury.

“He’s a very good passer and is good outside,” Ensbury said. “He doesn’t necessarily get in as many games. But it definitely hurts us in practice. Not having him there will make it a little more difficult to prepare for deep teams like Penn State.”

The EIVA postseason is fast approaching, marking the final opportunity for Princeton’s seniors to take home a conference championship.

“We’ve had some great matches and those have been fun. What it comes down to is that we want to win the EIVA. It’s not necessarily about beating Penn State or George Mason or Harvard at their gyms. It’s about making the playoffs and playing the best volleyball we can then. The best moment for me would be winning when it matters at the end of the season.”