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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Cornell
Women's Volleyball Wins Thriller, Completes Wild Sweep Weekend
November 08, 2003 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 8, 2003
Box Score
ITHACA, N.Y. - The Cornell women's volleyball team set records, played in front of a huge crowd and dominated the majority of the stat sheet. Princeton, however, left with the two things that mattered - a victory and control of its own destiny in the Ivy League race, rallying from 2-1 down and a match ball in the fifth game to take a 3-2 win.
The victory keeps Princeton one back of Penn in the loss column. The Tigers will make up a match with Columbia on Monday night at 8 p.m. before taking on Dartmouth and Harvard at home this weekend. If Princeton sweeps at home, it would be guaranteed a shot at the Ivy League title, either to share or win outright, in the season finale at the Palestra.
But it took a wild one just to set that up. Princeton, which had to hold off a feisty Columbia squad in five games Friday night, took the opener 30-26, but lost the second game 30-24. Cornell jumped all over Princeton early and cruised to a 30-12 win in the third game, but Princeton bounced back for a 30-25 win in game four. That set up the fifth and deciding game, with the loser likely falling out of the Ivy League race. Cornell served a match ball ahead 14-13, but never had a shot to set up its offense as Lauren Grumet killed off the hands of a block attempt to even it at 15-15. Ashley Weber had a kill to go up 16-15, which gave Princeton its first match ball. Jenny Senske, who had 56 assists in the win, made a dig and then assisted on Grumet's match winner.
"It comes down to this," head coach Glenn Nelson said afterwards. "It's not how many you score, it's when you score them. We're still in the hunt. We went into the tank in the second and third games. I figured in the fourth game, they'd come back to us a little and we'd kick it up a notch. When you play a team for two hours and both teams are similar, it's going to even out."
Grumet led Princeton with 22 kills, while Kellie Cramm and Alex Brown each had 15 apiece. Jenny McReynolds led the Tigers with 23 digs.