The No. 17 men’s volleyball team (12–11 overall, 5–5 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) split the weekend series against the University of Charleston Golden Eagles (11–14, 2–6). Both games went down to the wire, accumulating a total of 10 sets over the weekend.
Charleston narrowly defeats the Tigers in five sets on Day 1
On Friday evening, Princeton fell heartbreakingly to Charleston 3–2 in five grueling sets at Dillon Gymnasium (16–25, 25–19, 23–25, 25–18, 12–15).
The Golden Eagles started strong in the first set, reaching an early lead of 8–3 before the Tigers called their first timeout.
“Let go of the outcome and let’s focus on playing hard,” head coach Sam Schweisky told The Daily Princetonian postgame about what his message to the team was during the break.
The rest of the first set was a back-and-forth contest between the two sides. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the Golden Eagles took the first set 25–16.
“We were a lot more rigid than we wanted to be … as a brand of Princeton volleyball we like to play a lot looser, really putting our foot on the gas,” junior hitter Nyherowo Omene told the ‘Prince’.
The Tigers got off to a quick 6–4 lead in the second set. However, the Tigers gave up a 5–0 run to the Golden Eagles, putting themselves in a three-point deficit and forcing another timeout. With strong play from the Tigers, the two sides were tied at 13 halfway through the set. An intense back and forth followed, until junior setter Henry Wedbush recorded an ace to give the Tigers an important 18-17 lead. This ignited the crowd, giving Princeton the momentum it needed to close out the second set with a 25–19 win.
The third set proved to be very tactical, with both teams playing carefully trying to gain the critical 2–1 set advantage in the best-of-five contest. Similar to the second set, both sides exchanged points and were unable to take a commanding lead. Toward the end of the set, the score was tied at 20.
Down 22–21, a serve from Princeton hit the net, giving Charleston an important two-point advantage late in the set. The road team used this lead to their advantage, winning two points in a row to take the crucial third set 25–23.
The pressure was on Princeton as they were one set away from losing the match. Charleston put their foot on the pedal from the beginning, taking an early 7–5 lead. However, a series of points from Omene helped Princeton take a 12–9 advantage. The Tigers did not stop scoring, coming away with a comfortable 25–18 win in the fourth set.
The final set was played in a first-to-15 format, leaving no room for error from either team. With both teams focused, the match stayed extremely close through the first 12 points. The Tigers eventually pulled ahead after back-to-back kills and aces from Omene, followed by a great overall offensive performance to make the score 12–11. However, this would be the last point the Tigers scored, dropping the set 15–12 and losing the five-set thriller at home.
“I think our serves were off today, and going into our match tomorrow, we definitely want to loosen up and focus on that aspect of our game,” said Omene.
Though the Tigers fell short in the end, Omene still managed to end the game with a great all-around performance, racking up 22 kills, four aces, and four blocks to pace the Tigers.
Complete bounce-back: Another five-set thriller
While still producing a handful of service errors, the Tigers managed eight fewer in Saturday’s match than Friday’s. The Eagles, meanwhile, produced five more in what was yet another close five-set thriller. This time, however, the Tigers showcased their perseverance on senior day, narrowly defeating the Golden Eagles 3–2 (16–25, 25–17, 26–24, 21–25, 17–15).
While the first set did not go the Tigers’ way, as they just could not contain the Golden Eagles’ strong offense in a 16–25 blowout, senior middle blocker Josh Coan notably hit his first kill of the season on senior day.
“Maybe it was the emotion of senior night,” Shweisky said. “But we just were not clicking, while Charleston was making us work.”
Having completed just one block compared to Charleston’s five in the first set, Shweisky made various changes that led to a complete turnaround. A first-year duo block by Whitfield and hitter Jameson Vaccaro, followed by a strong kill by senior outside hitter Ben Harrington, were the Tiger’s last two points in a 25–17 blowout, bringing the match level at 1–1.
“That’s the nice thing about having a deep team with some different guys that can come in,” Shweisky said. “We were able to move some things around and find a balance in the second set.”
The third set saw intense back-and-forth play. Outside of only one three-point run by the Tigers, neither team had a run of more than two consecutive points for the entire set. At 22–20, junior libero Matt Suh — who had a standout defensive performance — made two consecutive soaring dives to keep the ball alive. However, the Golden Eagles caught up with a service ace that tied the set 24–24, taking it to a deuce. Following an Eagles service error, Harrington and Whitfield set up a commanding block to win the set 26–24, taking the match in favor of Princeton 2–1.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, they were unable to capitalize right away on this momentum, as they fought hard but again fell to the Golden Eagles’ determination in the fourth set. Back-to-back errors put the Tigers down 21–25 in the fourth, leveling the match 2–2 and forcing another fifth set between the two sides.
The decisive fifth set started with both teams trading points. Down 8–10, Suh again fell to his knees to save the ball, which ultimately led to Whitfeld cutting the deficit to one. Another Whitfield kill gave the Tigers a quick side-out at 11–11.
The Tigers neared match point at 13-12, but an Eagles kill and a Tigers service error eventually evened out the set 14–14, forcing a deuce. The Tigers thought they had missed a major opportunity with yet another service error, but, amusingly, the Eagles returned the favor with their own service error right after, bringing the set to 16–15. At match point, a signature Harrington kill found its way through the Golden Eagles’ defense, finishing off a chaotic night for the Tigers and giving them a 17-15 win on senior night.
After that last kill, Harrington is only ten kills away from a landmark 1,000 career kills. Omene had another standout performance with the highest kills (22) for the Tigers that night. Wedbush also had an impressive season-high 51 assists and a career-high five service aces. Additionally, Suh, who was lauded by Shweisky for his defensive performance, recorded seven digs.
Having now ended the regular season, the Tigers will travel to Penn State where the 2024 EIVA Championships will be hosted. Princeton will be the No. 3 seed in the tournament, where they will play against Charleston once more. The winner of the quarterfinal match will move on to play No. 2-seeded George Mason, who received a bye to the semifinal.
Bryant Figueroa is a Sports contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Daniel Eafa is a Sports contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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