A version of this article appeared in The Daily Princetonian Feb. 4, 2003. LOS ANGELES -Traveling to California last week for its annual trial-by-sunshine, the men's volleyball had a hard time fitting into its airplane seats and an even harder time winning. Facing the likes of No. 1 UC-Irvine and No. 15 UC-San Diego, Princeton featured its tallest lineup ever - ranging from 6'8" freshman middle Brian Hamming and no one shorter than 6'3" sophomore outside Ryn Burns - and endured four matches and only one win, against Hope International, in four days. Princeton's three losses suggest that what the Tigers have gained in size and potential they still lack in experience. "It's a tough situation for us because we have to start the season after exams," said coach Glenn Nelson, who saw all six starters on the same court for the first time during the national anthem at LaVerne. With fans who honored Old Nassau by dressing like wayward extras from "A Beautiful Mind" - replete with tweed, too-short ties, pleated skirts and knee socks - the Leopards demonstrated a stronger grasp of game theory in their 28-30, 30-24, 27-30, 30-26, 15-12 win last Monady. Against LaVerne, ranked third in Division III, Princeton created its own problems with erratic passing, a limited middle attack and tragic defense. And when they did get a second ball to Lilestrom, Tiger hitters continually failed to convert, even on free balls. Senior opposite and captain Dennis Alshuler posted 22 kills and hit .390, while sophomore outside Blake Robinson struggled en route to only 20 kills on 53 attempts. After its two-hour battle with LaVerne, Princeton hardly had to worry more about surviving than winning Tuesday against an Irvine team defending, for the first in the program's history, the top spot in the national poll. But with three Tiger starters from Orange County playing in front of family, friends and alumni, Princeton fired up to win a game in a 30-19, 30-21, 22-30, 30-19 loss. It was the Tigers' first match against a top-ranked opponent since their 1998 NCAA semifinal loss to Pepperdine. The Tigers played a far more settled match and, though the scores indicate otherwise, hung with the Anteaters through the first half of each game. On any number of points Princeton nailed passes, dug Anteater hits and challenged the Irvine defense. "We haven't passed this well in six years," said former outside Joe McCarthy '97. As a result, Liljestrom ran a more balanced attack but still relied on Robinson and Alshuler, who swung for 66 of the Tigers' 110 attacks. Consistent serving, including tough jumpers by Alshuler, helped the Tigers build their lead midway through the game. Even the re-entry of Irvine's starting setter could not prevent the Tigers from making the match more than a mere blowout. Though the win rivaled Nelson's one-under par on the back nine at Fairplex for the team's greatest triumph of the week, Nelson nevertheless said, "I'd feel better if they'd had six starters in." Though Princeton outdug Irvine, 31-27, Irvine still outhit the Tigers, .384-.209, and dominated at the net, where the far quicker Anteaters roofed the Tigers off the court, 14-4. Wednesday's match at UCSD could have offered Princeton its first win against a ranked team in years. Yet from the first serve Princeton faltered beyond all reason, 30-20, 30-25, 30-28. The Tigers gave the Tritons a 56-40 advantage in kills and a .445 hitting percentage while their non-defense dug all of 11 attacks and blocked five. The middle attack provided Princeton's only bright spot at USCD. Hamming, the latest, and all-time largest, in a long line of Tiger meatheads, led Princeton with 11 kills while sophomore Sean Vitousek hit .667 with no errors. The Tigers are practicing this week and will not play until Sunday at NJ Tech. Former outside and lifelong heavy metal enthusiast Mark McAnlis '97 said he expects the Tigers to improve so long as they "keep passing well and put Helmet on the warm-up mix."
HONOLULU -- All season long, the 11th-ranked menÕs volleyball dreamed of making it here. Playing in the Final Four in Hawaii against the nation's best would gain the Tigers the respect and admiration that they and head coach Glenn Nelson have sought for so long. And so they did.
But in hoping simply to reach the Final Four, and after playing some incredible volleyball en route, Princeton forgot to prepare for what happens when dreams actually come true.
With a performance that revealed little of the Tigers' potential, Princeton (16-9 overall) fell to No. 1 and four-time NCAA champion Pepperdine in a forgettable 15-1, 15-6, 15-4 affair that, much to the Tiger' relief, was not the worst loss in NCAA tournament history.
"We've been taking baby steps," said Birdwell of the Tigers' three-year-long effort to reach Final Four. "But, shit, we fell on our ass."
Neither as physical nor as experienced as any of their fellow Final Four participants, Princeton gave up the first two points in game one before senior opposite Scott Birdwell roofed the Waves to get on the board, 2-1.
Fired up by BirdwellÕs momentary heroism, the Tigers and their crowd - a deeply spirited bunch of volleyball alumni, parents, students and gracious boosters - envisioned a competitive match. But after a string of sideouts that included some inexcusable Tiger service errors, the Tigers lost their composure as the Waves mounted their attack.
"Even though there was no pressure to win, we were definitely nervous," said senior opposite Scott Birdwell. "You get tense and tight and you play bad."
After flying 6,000 miles, the Tigers never really got out of the van.
For a nervous team, passing is the first thing to go, and in the imposing environs of the Univ. of Hawaii arena and the several thousand who stuck around after a marathon 3-2 win by UCLA over Lewis, senior outside Jeff Cooper and freshman outside Steve Cooper simply could not handle Pepperdine's tough serving. Wave setter J.J. Riley, a teammate of Jeff CooperÕs on the 1994 national champion club team, served his jump-floater for nine straight points.
"Once we didn't pass the ball, I knew we'd be in trouble," Nelson said.
Never having seen serves as tough as the Waves, Steve Cooper needed Jeff Cooper to step in a pass nails as he had done all season. But with the pressure of returning to the big time long after a high school career in the limelight, Jeff, who hit -.231, did not pass or hit nearly as well as he had done throughout the season.
As expected, the Tiger offense found few holes in the Waves' block, and Pepperdine Ñ which was more than good enough to win even without PrincetonÕs help ÑÊneeded only to play its game.
"We got rattled by their block," said senior middle and hometown favorite Dan Brandt. "We never really got into the groove."
Princeton opened the second game with a glimmer of hope. In the first play of the game, Steve Cooper experienced what may prove to be the highlight of his entire career. Off a serve by Brandt, Cooper went up solo against PepperdineÕs superstar, NCAA player of the year George Roumain, and absolutely clamped him to take a 1-0 lead. From the sidelines, some sympathetic UCLA players - friends with several Tigers - ubbed the New York native, the "King of the East Coast."
Jeff Cooper then followed with a kill in transition, and on the next play, senior middle Derek Devens roofed 6'9" all-American middle Chris Jacobson, who, along with the rest of the Waves, was more likely to hit over the Tiger block. Up 3-0, Princeton was on a roll.
But as the clock inched towards 5:00am EST, Pepperdine stormed back to win the second game and take a commanding lead in the third.
As the match waned, only two Tiger superstars emerged as the rest of the team simply tried to hang on. On the occasions when Morrow was able to run the middle, senior Derek Devens took advantage by hammering eight kills- Êoften through a triple block - on 10 attempts with no errors.
Meanwhile, Birdwell, who had ignited his team all season long, refused to go down without a fight; his 14 kills and 6 digs led both teams on the match. Clad in new orange and black Nike running shoes that commanded their own screen time on ESPN2, Birdwell was the only Tiger not to miss a serve, and some of his most emphatic kills came in the third game when Princeton averted disaster by scoring a few points at 11-0.
"I don't think that (the Tigers) played as well as they're capable of playing,' said Pepperdine head coach Marv Dunphy.
For the match, Princeton allowed the Waves to hit .517 to its .141, and the Waves outblocked the Tigers 14 to six. And all five Wave hitters amassed double-figures, led by RoumainÕs 13.
Despite some intense disappointment and tinges of embarrassment, Princeton cannot help but consider the season and this weekÕs oddessy an unqualified success.
ÒWeÕre in Hawaii!Ó said Birdwell after the defeat. ÒIf we were at Ohio St., weÕd be driving back to Princeton by now.Ó
So, with a rematch out of the question, the Tigers - who now
graduate their greatest senior class ever - can head out to the lanai,
bask in the sunshine and continue to enjoy the sweetest Princeton roadtrip
of all time, even without tuxes and swing bands (though flowers abound).
Playing the minimum nine games in three matches, No. 17 Princeton
(1-2 overall) won the customary garbage match at LaVerne Monday, and then
fell in three games apiece to a surging No. 18 UC-Irvine and No. 4 Long
Beach St., all of whom have been playing while the Tigers were dealing
with final exams and wondering how the team -- which has gained a
veritable sideshow of five freshmen in place of a remarkably mature class
of '97 -- would react once on the court.
"This is a new team," said head coach Glenn Nelson. "We're
starting to find our identity."
On Monday, the Leopards, who are 0-for-lifetime against the Tigers
needed little prodding to shoot yet another an airball, 15-6, 15-6, 15-13.
In his college debut, freshman outside Steve Cooper demonstrated
that he can often pass nails and bring some heat on the left side, but
obvious jitters and difficulty hitting against a big block suggest that he
still has to adjust to "the difference between high school and big-time
collegiate volleyball," according to Nelson.
Meanwhile, as expected, the Tigers' senior offensive trio --
outside Jeff Cooper, middle Derek Devens and opposite Scott Birdwell --
hammered for 17, 12 and nine kills, respectively.
Following the match, a jovial Birdwell was not afraid to express
his desire to see "Spiceworld" prior to traveling to Irvine Tuesday, but
despite the genteel comfort of Orange County and the exuberance of Girl
Power!, the Tigers' performance against the Anteaters was far more scary
than sporty.
At UCI, Morrow opened the match with a missed serve, Steve Cooper
followed with an overpass, and the Tigers' play deteriorated from there,
15-3, 15-7, 15-4.
Lacking consistent passing and defensive tenacity, the Tigers,
whose total of five losses in the past two years have rendered them quite
unaccustomed to losing, did not at all play like a nationally ranked
team.
Hitting .381, only Devens showed any signs of competence. All
other Tiger hitters fell victim to the Anteater block, and Morrow's
setting was erratic and unbalanced. Princeton hit .184 to Irvine's .542
and committed a preposterous 29 errors.
"We made them look pretty good," said Morrow.
"That was the most embarrassing loss in recent Princeton
volleyball history," said an alumnus who wished to remain nameless; Nelson
agreed that his team had not played so poorly since a 1993 home match
against Penn St.
Tuesday's performance did not bode well for a long-sought win over
the undefeated 49ers, nevertheless the Tigers showed some flashes of
brilliance during the 15-4, 15-13, 15-12 loss before a crowd of parents
and an entire team's worth of volleyball alumni.
After a forgettable first game, freshman middle Ryan Black, "a
budding meathead" according to Joe McCarthy '97, replaced struggling
senior Dan Brandt and contributed some strong play at the net while the
remaining starters picked up their play considerably.
Cooper and Cooper found a nice passing groove against Beach's jump
serves and generally poor manners, and Tiger defense began to challenge
the blistering Beach attack.
The resurrected Tigers jumped out to leads of 12-6 and 10-3 in the
second and third games, respectively, but Beach's composure and
experience, coupled with untimely Tiger service errors and some sketchy
officiating, prevented Princeton from pushing to 15.
"We have a lot of maturing to do," Jeff Cooper said.
On an off-night for Birdwell, only Devens and Jeff Cooper emerged
as offensive weapons. Devens not only swung for 12 kills but also won the
hot tub endurance contest at Birdwell's Brentwood mansion.
Jeff Cooper put away a match-high 18 kills, but even so, he felt
that the Tigers never "had any one player to make the huge play."
Though disappointment over the Irvine match lingers, Nelson
said, "we played a respectable match against the No. 4 team in the
country," and the team expects to continue taking the strides necessary
for a Final Four run.
Thursday the Tigers will shake off the glorious haze of Bicker
week and travel to Juniata and then to primary eastern foe No. 8 Penn St.,
for their first regular-season meeting in five years.
Down by one game and losing, 11-1, to the men's volleyball team in the second game of its Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association championship match Mark Pavlik, head coach of No. 2 Penn State, admitted that he "was willing to change places" wi
th the Tigers.
Through one-and-a-half games, the No. 16 Tigers erased all doubts about their ability to hang with any team in the nation and appeared poised to commit the biggest upset in college volleyball history.
Last year, Princeton (24-2 overall, 6-0 EIVA) dropped the finals in an unspectacular sweep. But Saturday, in every rally, in every minute, Princeton fought for its would-be first-ever EIVA championship, and eventually fell, 13-15, 15-13, 15-9, 15-12.
A true national powerhouse, Penn St. (29-1) has wrecked every team in the East - Tigers included - for the better part of a decade, gliding virtually unchallenged into the NCAA Final Four. In 1994 PSU became the first non-California school to capture
the national championship. But Pavlik considers this year's team to be his finest ever, and only its very best effort staved off the onslaught of the strongest team in Princeton history, which, in a fashion reminiscent of PSU itself, dominated its eastern
foes.
In January, Volleyball Magazine advised that the Lions could book their reservations to the Final Four, because the EIVA supposedly offered no legitimate competition. But for over two-and-a-half hours, Princeton did not merely delay PSU's seemingly in
evitable seventh-straight trip to the Final Four.
"Today's game meant something," said head coach Glenn Nelson, who, in the estimation of a fellow EIVA coach, won the sartorial victory with a handsome jacket-and-tie ensemble.
"It was maybe one of the best (Princeton) matches ever. We had a great year, played a really good team, and they were a few points better."
Going into the match, the Tigers knew that they needed to play flawlessly in order to defeat a Lion squad stacked with some of the best talent and best coaching in the country, and for most of the match, the Tigers did just that. The Tiger outsides
- seniors Joe McCarthy and Jon Wimbish; and junior Jeff Cooper - never broke down, even when receiving PSU's tough jump serves, and Princeton dug 57 of PSU's mind-boggling 247 attacks on the match.
Freshman setter Jason Morrow, though the shortest player on the court and the only freshman (other than defensive specialist Tom Dowd), played many inches and many years beyond those of even the 6-foot, 5-inch, fifth-year seniors on the other side of
the net.
Morrow relied heavily on Princeton's stalwart middles, senior Dan Eggers and junior Derek Devens, whose respective 18- and 20-kill performances eclipsed those of their Lion counterparts.
Wimbish, McCarthy and Cooper experienced varying degrees of success hitting on the left side. McCarthy recorded 16 kills and a phenomenal .682 hitting percentage, while Cooper and Wimbish were more erratic.
In the first half of the match, junior opposite Scott Birdwell momentarily put on the finest performance of his career as time and again he found his way through the huge PSU block, for a total of 25 kills.
And even the Tiger block, though short on the outside, roofed 17 balls to PSU's 20.
But even though the Tigers all contributed performances that would enable Princeton to prevail over any other team in the nation, the Lions stayed in the match for one reason and one reason only: a career-high, 51-kill performance from first-team all-
American Lion opposite Ivan Contreras.
At every crucial moment, PSU gave the ball to Contreras, who hit smart and hard from all six positions while exhibiting a remarkable degree of sportsmanship for a player of his calibre, according to the Tigers.
At times the Tigers dug Contreras, and a few times they even roofed him, but with an effortless swing and an astounding vertical leap, Contreras routinely pasted balls to the Tiger 12-foot line and made the difference between a Tiger upset and PSU's m
aintainance of the EIVA status-quo.
Early in the first game, PSU and Princeton traded side-outs and scored incrementally until the Lions broke a 5-5 stalemate to gain 9-5 and 11-6 leads. But the difference between this year and last was that Princeton failed to fulfill expectations that
it would simply fold in the face of physically superior competition.
Sparked by strong hitting from Birdwell, Princeton battled back to 10-11 and then roofed Contreras, to tie it at 11-11.
After a PSU time out at 13-13, the Lions lost all composure, and when Lion middle Sergio Pampena launched a game-ending quickset past the baseline, the strong Princeton crowd, fueled by good-natured belligerance, erupted in support of the surging Tige
rs.
Momentum carried Princeton to its fateful 11-1 lead, built upon Lion errors and strong Tiger net play, but PSU took Saturday's match "very seriously," according to Pavlik, and it was prepared to exert the maximum effort, worthy of its national ranking
, to stem the Tiger onslaught.
Making defensive adjustments and taking advantage of a Tiger lull, PSU stormed back to win the second, but it still failed to demoralize a Tiger squad good enough and determined enough to make a run for glory.
"Princeton's hearts are much bigger than their stature," Pavlik said. RYou could never tell the score by looking at their faces."
And in fact, excepting a 6-point PSU run from 9-9 in the third game, the Tigers never allowed the score to swing drastically in PSU's favor, and consistent play brought Princeton all the way to a 10-9 lead in the fourth game, at which point PSU capita
lized on several Tiger hitting errors and maintained the composure necessary to close out a match that in no way resembled a blowout.
Though the crowd - consiting of several dozen diverse groups of students and parents - never ceased in its vigorous and even obnoxious suport of the Tigers, Pavlik remarked after the match, "I love the Princeton fans." Pavlik further remarked that, de
sipte its low ranking, Princeton compares "very favorably" to many of the top teams that PSU faced this year.
"The problem was that we needed a great game from everyone at once," Birdwell said. "We never got a consolidated effort."
"Maybe I wouldn't be disappointed if I felt that Penn St. was a better team," Wimbish said. "I'm really, really proud of this team."
With last night's Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association semifinal victory - a 15-13, 16-14, 15-7, thriller against EIVA final four host Rutgers-Newark - the men`s volleyball team stands in the exact same position as it did at this time last y
ear: facing a No. 2 Penn State team that has not lost an EIVA match since before most of the league's current players graduated from high school.
All season, the East Coast volleyball world has anticipated the matchup between the two teams that are clearly a step above the rest of the league. Playing in different EIVA divisions, the two teams did not meet in the regular season, and the only que
stion remaining is whether the Nittany Lions are in fact a step above the Tigers.
Princeton (24-1 overall, 6-0 EIVA) and Penn St. (27-1, 6-0) face off at 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Rutgers-Newark Golden Dome, which, with a spirited crowd, offers the Tigers all the comforts home in the middle of downtown Newark. The winner continues on
to Columbus, Ohio and the NCAA Final Four.
Conventional wisdom would suggest that the contrast between the two squads - who have the two best records in the NCAA - looks as dramatic that between the two schools' academic reputations.
With a sponsorship from Nike, thousands of fans and hitting percentages higher than proverbial state-school SAT scores, the Nittany Lions epitomize big-time college sports.
Playing by all the rules that the Ivy Group Agreement would never dream of instituting, PSU enjoys three scholarships, a recruiting budget that exceeds Princeton's $0.00 and a lineup that includes several 5th-year seniors.
Meanwhile, the Tigers have "slid into the No. 2 spot in the East without scholarships and without a budget," said Nelson, whose team operates at the painfully modest club-varsity level.
With no such administrative restraints, head coach Mark Pavlik mentors a lineup averaging will over six-feet, the centerpiece of which is Mexican national team member Ivan Contreras, lured away from the shores of the Gulf to central Pennsylvania, wher
e he studies electrical engineering and destroys just about everything on the other side of the net.
Contreras, a first-team all-American, comprises only one half of the most lethal left-side offense in the nation. Opposite Contreras, senior Jason Kempner puts down his fair share of kills on a team that leads the nation in kill percentage, two spots
up from Princeton.
But, even though it now faces some of the biggest names in the college game, this year's Tiger squad has proven all season, and really for the past 18 seasons, that the Ivy League can appeal to equally talented if less notorious players.
The only team at Princeton that does not compete against other Ivies (except for a perennially tragic Harvard team), the Tigers have developed a style that keeps them in the running with their unlikely rivals.
"The makings are there for a very healthy and competitive rivalry between the two programs," Pavlik said. "Both are pretty visible institutions and attract pretty special student-athletes. It was only a matter of time before the Tigers had a year like
this one."
Nevertheless, the odds do not exactly favor Princeton. PSU relies on arguably the best offensive arsenal in the college game, and the Tigers know that they cannot beat the Nittany Lions at their own game.
Rather, a smaller Tiger squad hopes to use its height to its advantage by digging the Nittany Lions into mental breakdown and by passing well enough to give freshman setter Jason Morrow three options on every single attack.
Princeton's outsides - seniors Joe McCarthy, Jon Wimbish and junior Jeff Cooper - nail passes like few others, and Princeton's middles - junior Derek Devens and senior Dan Eggers - may just be crafty and quick enough to get past the PSU middles.
And if Princeton can split the PSU block and serve tough enough to limit PSU's options, then all bets may be off between Princeton's old-school style - truly a dying breed - and PSU's more contemporary power game.
Despite Princeton's low ranking, Pavlik gives the Tigers due credit and believes "that it will be a battle between PrincetonUs ball control and PSU point-scoring abilities."
The plays that Princeton must make to win the championship include Morrow's lightening-quick adjustments to tips and tools, Wimbish's acrobatic stabs at balls that fly deep off the block and McCarthy's fearless digs of balls flying invisibly fast.
Essentially, the Tigers will try to take care of things on its side of the net and try as it might, even PSU cannot hit a ball that cannot be dug.
On offense, the Tigers will try to illustrate the drawbacks of huge blocks and huge bodies.
Cooper and McCarthy have always relied on the vulnerability of poorly-formed blocks, and with plenty of forearm to aim for, they may pick up more than their share of tools. And when though swings fail, a well-placed tip is likely to fall against PSU's
slower defense.
And Princeton's one true big-gun meathead, junior opposite Scott Birdwell will do his best to bounce balls past the Nittany Lions.
"Going to the national Final Four . . . It would be beyond a dream come true," Wimbish said. "In 1994 we played Penn St. in the EIVA semis, and it was kind of like an honor just to play them."
But in light of the Tigers' success since then, Wimbish said, "now I think it's a possibility to beat them."
From this season's opening serve, the No. 16 Tigers always expected to reach the EIVA final four, and expectations come true at 6 p.m. tonight when No.-2 seed Princeton faces the host Red Raiders.
Though the Tigers crushed Newark in three games March 12, tonight's battle may not resemble either the March meeting or last year's semifinal, in which Princeton also blew away the Raiders.
"Every time we've played a team more than once this season, they were tougher the second time," coach Glenn Nelson said. "It's not going to be easy, but we have (junior opposite) Scott Birdwell."
In fact, the last time the Tigers played at the Newark Golden Dome, Birdwell lit up for a Princeton-record 47 kills in a five-game win, but with tenacity and focus, Princeton should not need such a performance to defeat this year's Raiders, whose ripe
potential has dwindled into tragic inconsistency and a 12-19 overall record.
The Dome in fact may provide the Raiders little comfort, since a rabid contingent of Princeton fans, armed with Spanish epithets to throw off the largely foreign Raider lineup, is expected to caravan to Newark's urban jungle.
"Thesis stress and the number of matches may have taken their toll," Nelson said. "But we should be sky-high by this point. I'm hoping that we step it up this weekend."
The only point of concern for the Tigers is the status of junior middle Derek Devens, who leads the nation in kill percentage.
Devens slightly sprained his ankle in Tuesday's practice and is listed as day-to-day, but Princeton boasts a remarkable tradition of overcoming adversity.
Two days before the start of the 1995 Ivy League tournament, women's setter Kristin Spataro '96 suffered a similar ankle injury. But she rallied to lead the Tigers to their second-straight league title.
And last year, senior middle Dan Eggers missed the semifinals due to illness, and it was Devens who filled in to help Princeton roust Newark.
Barring a Spataro-esque recovery, junior Dan Brandt and sophomore Brandon Vegter will take Devens' place if he is not healthy by this evening.
The No. 16 men's volleyball team (23-1 overall 6-0 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) went into SaturdayUs EIVA quarterfinal match against George Mason with an astounding degree of confidence that might have spelled disaster for a team wi
thout the Tigers' remarkable mental stability.
With a 19-match win streak, an unfulfilled but painfully legitimate bid for a top-15 ranking and, moreover, the memory of having rousted the Patriots, 15-3, 15-2, 15-4, in February, the Tigers did not play nearly to their potential against the clearly
weaker Patriots.
Nonetheless, Princeton still rolled into its third EIVA final four in four years by virtue of a 15-9, 15-9, 15-11 victory.
No. 2 seed Princeton faces No. 3 seed and final four host Rutgers-Newark in a Thursday semifinal.
Though George Mason improved its passing and its hitting percentage since its abysmal performance in February, it was still no match for Princeton's stronger passing and balanced attack.
The Tigers were slow to respond to the improved Patriots. In the first game, senior outside Jon Wimbish and junior outside Jeff Cooper failed to pass with their usual degree of precision, and general Tiger inconsistency saw a 10-4 lead vanish, as the
Patriots forced head coach Glenn Nelson to call time out at 11-9.
But following Nelson's words of wisdom, Princeton exhibited the tenacity that has defined its season. Though often lulled into complacency by weaker teams, all season long the Tigers have picked up their play in the crucial final points, and Saturday
Princeton repeatedly stopped the Patriots dead in their tracks.
A favorite of the raucous Dillon crowd, Patriot outside Mike Duckworth almost single-handedly kept the Patriots in the match, but a relaxed and unified Tiger squad had little trouble finding GMU's many weaknesses.
In the third game, GMU, down 10-5, was about to warm up the van before they pushed it to 13-11, but again, a Tiger surge, which included two huge blocks by Wimbish, quelled the Patriots' playoff dreams.
"We were a little inconsistent," Nelson said. "But to our credit, we really picked it up and won points when we needed to."
In the second and third games Cooper and Wimbish stated nailing their passes, allowing freshman setter Jason Morrow to feed senior middle Dan Eggers and junior middle Derek Devens, both of whom provided clutch offensive firepower.
Though a trifle distracted by his engineering thesis, which includes a discussion of the "erection of enormous members," Eggers himself proved enormous by playing superbly in the second and third games after a weak first game.
Though Saturday marked the final home match for Eggers, Wimbish and senior setter/outside Mark McAnlis, thesis stress and the relatively easy win made it Ranticlimactic,S according to Eggers.
Eggers had 10 kills while Devens had 16 kills and hit .565, a shade below his NCAA-leading overall kill percentage.
In his post-game, WTTN radio interview, junior opposite Scott Birdwell said, "You just can't stop Derek Devens."
As a team, Princeton currently ranks second in hitting percentage behind No. 2 Penn St., and against GMU it hit a typically impressive .392.
In perhaps his finest match all season, Morrow not only displayed immaculate setting - especially in the middle - but also made some phenomenal defensive plays.
Tigers go 1-2 vs. Western Powerhouses 2 Feb. 1998
The unabridged version of a story printed in The Daily Princetonian.
LOS ANGELES-For a trip that is usually a whirlwind of victory, family time
and carousal, last week's installment of the annual men's volleyball trip
to California went all too quickly.
Mother's Day Tournament Sunday 18 May 1997
Team Wimbo d. Team Choacha in finals. Details to come.
Tigers Put up a Fight vs. Penn St.
(J. Kepner's Lament - Penn St. Daily Collegian)
Tigers Cruise into EIVA Finals with Win over Rutgers-Newark
Tigers to Face Rutgers-Newark in EIVA Semis
After travelling to California, scrambling up and down the East Coast and welcoming prey into Dillon Gym, the men's volleyball team (23-1 overall, 6-0 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) stands only a short trip up the New Jersey Turnpike awa
y from its season-long goal of challenging No. 2 Penn St. for the EIVA championship.
Tigers Advance to EIVA Final Four with Win over GMU