Women’s volleyball continues to impress with wins over Brown, Yale

Women’s volleyball (10–4 overall, 3–0 Ivy League) remained undefeated in the Ivy League this season with a pair of commanding wins against Brown (8–5, 1–2) and Yale (8–4, 2–1) this weekend.

The Tigers began the weekend with a dominating straight-set home win against Brown on Friday night. None of the sets were even remotely close — Princeton allowed at most 13 points in a set, winning 25–12, 25–13, 25–13. Junior right side and outside hitter Devon Peterkin and junior right side hitter Maggie O’Connell led the way for Princeton, who played a nearly mistake-free game en route to the blowout win.

Things became more interesting Saturday night as the team stayed at home to face off against Yale. Princeton took four sets to dispatch the Bulldogs, the first three of which were closely contested. Princeton won each of the first two sets by the narrow margin of 25–23 before Yale fought back to take the third set 25–22. Princeton refused to allow Yale to climb back into the match, however, taking the fourth and final set 25–14. O’Connell led the way this time with 21 kills, and sophomore middle blocker Clare Lenihan and Peterkin contributed 18 and 13 kills, respectively. Junior setter Jessie Harris distributed the ball effectively for the Princeton offense, recording 59 assists to go with her 37 assists against Brown the night before.

Voted to win the Ivy League during preseason, Princeton has clearly proven itself to be the team to beat in this year’s conference. Its non-conference schedule included impressive wins against major teams Northwestern and Maryland, and it has been dominant in Ivy League play so far this season, winning a total of nine sets and losing just one over the course of three games. Its win Saturday came against the Bulldogs, who competed against Princeton in last year’s Ivy League playoff match and were the only team besides Princeton to receive votes in the preseason Ivy League poll.

Next week, the team will get the chance to prove that it can win on the road in hostile conditions on a road trip to New England. It will play Dartmouth on the road on Friday before traveling to Cambridge to take on Harvard on Saturday. While back-to-back road games always present a challenge, the team has to like its chances if it continues to play at its current level.