Nebraska Defeats Scrappy Princeton Women's Volleyball Team in NCAA Tournament First-Round Contest

Dec. 1, 2000

LIncoln, Neb. - Everything about Friday night's first-round NCAA Tournament matchup between Princeton and Nebraska was exciting. The Tigers played the No. 1 Nebraska Cornhuskers, who came into tonight's contest with a 28-0 record, in the Coliseum in Lincoln, Neb. Over 4,000 fans packed the Coliseum with the Nebraska band, cheerleaders and Lil' Red to watch Friday night's important match. The surroundings were unlike anything the Tigers players had ever seen before as Princeton's largest crowd this season numbered only 250 people.

The saavy and energetic Nebraska crowd was stunned by the solid early play of the Tigers, who were down only 5-4 in the early stages of the first game. These fans and Nebraska's stellar women's volleyball team could not have expected the solid and scrappy play that the Tigers provided as the Cornhuskers came in ranked as the No. 1 ranked team in the country. After meeting with staunch resistence early in game one, the Cornhuskers bolted out to a 12-4 lead behind the solid play of Greichaly Cepero. Cepero, the Big Twelve player of the year, made incredible set after incredible set, and proved to be incredibly adept at sneaking the ball by the unsuspecting Tigers. Junior Ana Yoerg (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Kerry Song (Fr., Coto de Caza, Calif) and Kellie Cramm (Fr., Laguna Beach, Calif.) each made two kills to help Princeton fight back to a 13-8 score. Nebraska's incredible fans rallied behind their Cornhuskers and helped lift them to a 15-9 win in game one. Princeton looked poised to repeat its solid game-one performance as it scored the first point of the second game on the fine block of sophomore middle blocker Abby Studer (Signal Mountain, Tenn.). Fate was not on the Tigers' side, however, as the Cornhuskers rolled to an easy 15-2 win in game two with the help of great offensive play and numerous Princeton errors.

"Nebraska really started to get into a rythym in the second game, because they were able to continue serving without giving up as many side-out's as they did in game one," commented Princeton's head coach Glenn Nelson.

It would be easy for the Tigers to lay down and die after losing the second game by such a lopsided total, but the scrappy wonen from Old Nassau sallied forth and played with great effort and enthusiasm in the third stanza. While the Cornhuskers would win the match 3-0 by taking the third game by the score of 15-7, the Tigers stubbornly refused to lose. As is the custom at Nebraska's venerable Coliseum, the fans all rise and join in applause as their beloved Cornhuskers attempt to record the last point of the game. Princeton averted a game-winning point by the Cornhuskers four times as the crowd appeared to get nervous. The ultra-talented Cornhuskers would get its win to move on to the second-round contest against South Carolina, who defeated Georgia Washington in the early game.

"When the crowd went crazy at the end of the games it really pumped us up," said senior co-captain Emily Brown after the game.

"This was an incredible way for me and Emily to end our collegiate careers." added co-captain Sabrina King (Sr., Laguna Beach, Calif.). This tremendous experience coupled with the fact that Princeton loses only two of its current team to graduation this May should spell doom for the rest of the Ivy League next season.

"I thought that we played really well tonight and that we made a lot of errors," commented Nelson, and we knew that it would take a perfect game to defeat the Cornhuskers tonight."

Totals:

Nebraska def. Princeton 3-0 Princeton 9-2-7 Nebraska 15-15-15

Records: Princeton (22-8, 9-1 Ivy League) Nebraska (29-0, 20-0 Big Twelve)

Kills: Nebraska 42 (Kropp, 10), Princeton 31 (King, 9)

Assists: Nebraska 38 (Cepero, 21), Princeton 29 (Yoerg, 22)

Digs: Nebraska 51 (Oxley, 11), Princeton 34 (Ziegler and King, 6)

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