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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Pennsylvania
Loban Leads Women's Volleyball To 13th Ivy League Title
November 17, 2004 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 17, 2004
Final Stats
PRINCETON - Lauren Loban was on the bench last season when Princeton fell 3-1 at the Palestra in a match that could have clinched Princeton's 13th Ivy League title. Penn would have given anything to have her back on the bench Wednesday night, as Princeton did clinch the league title with a 3-0 win, thanks in large part to the senior's brilliant match.
"I knew it was my last match here, and Penn has been our biggest rival," Loban said after killing 16 balls and hitting a team-high .282 to lead Princeton to its 19th win of the season. "Mentally I just came into the match and wanted to play my best."
It was arguably her best match of the year, but it was her second strong performance against the Quakers, who had won the league title in each of the last three years. Loban led Princeton to a 3-1 win at Penn in the league opener, a match that cemented Princeton's status as a legitimate Ivy League contender in 2004. "Loban did it at the beginning of the season as well," fellow senior Alex Brown said. "It just shows how dynamic this team can be. She has been an unsung hero for us this season."
"I'm so proud of this team, but we aren't ready to celebrate entirely," senior Ashley Weber said. "We still have two matches to win this weekend. About halfway through the season, I got the sense that everything we wanted to achieve, we were going to achieve."
To achieve that league title, the Tigers needed the win tonight. After sweeping Harvard and Dartmouth over the weekend, and getting a little help from Yale, Princeton was in position to clinch a share of the title in its home finale. The Tigers took control of the first game late, as Brown killed back-to-back balls, the latter on an over ball that she killed into the Penn side, to give Princeton a 26-21 lead. The Tigers would hold on to the 30-23 win.
The second game was won on the serve of Lauren Grumet, whose 7-0 run midway through all but clinched the game. Grumet, who led all players with 17 kills, turned a 16-16 game into a 23-16 one. Penn never challenged that lead and would eventually fall 30-21.
Princeton headed into the third game with a 2-0 lead, similar to the one it held against Harvard a few weeks earlier at Dillon Gym. The Crimson would rally to win the next two games before Weber led the Tigers to a dominant win in the fifth game.
There would be no letdown this time.
"There was a sense of urgency that was always lurking, and it finally came around," setter Jenny Senske said after her 49-assist performance paced the offense. "We played with that 'all or nothing' sense. The four seniors on the team, we are so behind them and we wanted so badly for them to succeed."
Princeton trailed 24-21 in the third game before Loban and Grumet recorded back-to-back kills to bring Princeton within one. A lunging dig from Emily Turner, who spelled Weber on the back line a couple of times, went to Senske, who made a great reach to send the ball in the back corner of the Penn side. A sprawling effort couldn't save the ball, and the junior setter's only kill of the match sent the crowd into a frenzy as the scoreboard finally showed an even score.
Penn and Princeton went into sideout mode until the score hit 27-27, when Princeton finally claimed its first lead since going up 16-15 midway through the game. Penn setter Linda Zhang, who had been effective on many of her swings, attacked a ball directly into the arms of sophomore setter Jenny McReynolds, who had positioned herself perfectly. McReynolds, an unsung hero on a squad that has consistently dug balls and given itself plenty of balls to hit each match, sent the pass to Senske, who set Loban outside. The senior went down the line to give Princeton a 28-27 lead. Loban followed it up with another kill to set up a match, and championship, ball, but Michelle Kauffman briefly delayed the celebration with a kill off the top of the net. Still, with the crowd on its feet, Princeton took the serve from libero Meredith Damore, and Senske backset Brown. The Los Altos, Calif., native, who carried Princeton through a five-game match at Dartmouth Saturday and has been the driving force for the Tigers all season, drove the ball onto the Dillon Gym floor for one last time and clinched Princeton's 13th Ivy League championship and the first for any current member of the Princeton squad.
The win, coupled with a dramatic 3-2 win for Yale against Brown, sends Princeton to a four-team playoff at Union College to determine the Ivy League representative in the NCAA tournament. Yale will host Harvard at 4 p.m. Saturday, while Princeton and Cornell will play at 7 p.m. The two winners will meet Sunday at 4 p.m. Princeton was swept by Cornell this season, went 1-1 against Yale and swept the Crimson.
"All these teams have played great matches and matches that we probably all want to forget," head coach Glenn Nelson, who became the third coach in Princeton athletics history to win 500 games earlier this season, said after clinching his 11th Ivy League title. "It will take one team to play efficiently two nights in a row to win this weekend."