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Princeton University Athletics
Learning To Share, Championship Style
November 18, 2003 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 18, 2003
It wasn't a good feeling that day, leaving Jadwin Gym following a 3-1 loss to Penn in its Ivy opener. The women's volleyball team knew one thing, though. It would see Penn again, and there was a chance that it could be for the highest of stakes. Again comes this Wednesday night, and the stakes are the championship of the Ivy League.
It's been a long, wild ride for the Princeton volleyball team, which started the season 3-3 and missing its senior captain Kellie Cramm, who battled illness throughout preseason and the first couple of weeks. By the time the Ivy League season started, Princeton was 6-4 and just starting to figure out how to play together.
Unfortunately, there were more lessons learned in that first Ivy match. Mistakes plagued Princeton in a 3-1 loss to Penn, as the Tigers gave away numerous points in the first two games and weren't able to dig out of that hole. The two-time defending Ivy champion Quakers left Jadwin Gym with the win and an early one-match lead on Princeton. Twelve Ivy League matches later, nothing has changed. Princeton won 12 of its next 13 matches, beginning with a nonleague tilt against St. Francis, to get within striking distance of Penn heading into the Ivy finale. The Tigers' one loss came at Yale, but Penn dropped a 3-2 contest at Cornell to allow Princeton back into the race.
The Tigers haven't done it the easy way this season, winning its last three road matches by 3-2 scores, including a wild one at Cornell two weekends ago. Princeton trailed that match 2-1 in games and then 14-13 in the fifth game, but rallied to win 16-14.
Penn has won three in a row against Princeton, although the Tigers' last win was the 2001 season finale at the Palestra.
The contest will feature the two top setters in the league, based on assists, as Princeton's Jenny Senske and Penn's Meghan Schloat will stand on opposite sides of the court. Senske entered last weekend as the Ivy leader in assists, but Schloat was the arguably the best player on the floor when Princeton and Penn met the first time.
Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan leads Penn in hitting, although Lauren Grumet has risen as a team leader for the Tigers and averages 4.2 kills per game. Freshman Jenny McReynolds leads the Ivy League with 5.4 digs per game.
If Princeton wins, the two teams will face each other Saturday for the Ivy League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, although both will still be recognized as Ivy co-champions.
The match begins at 7 p.m.