Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Sacred Heart
Men's Volleyball Rallies Past Sacred Heart To Clinch Winning Record
April 01, 2004 | Men's Volleyball
April 1, 2004
Box Score
PRINCETON - In potentially his final match at home, senior Jason Liljestrom led Princeton to a 3-1 win over Sacred Heart. The setter paced the offense with 42 assists and added five digs, four blocks and a kill to lead the Tigers out of an early hole.
Sacred Heart, which currently leads the EIVA Sweeney Division and could be on a collision course with Rutgers-Newark in the first round of the league playoffs, played well early and jumped out to a comfortable lead in the first game. Led by the hitting of Michael Burns, who ended with a game-high 16 kills, the Pioneers took the opening game 30-24. Princeton rallied in the second, winning by the identical score after hitting .407 in the game.
That set up the critical third game, which would go down to the wire. The Tigers trailed 27-26 and 28-27, but got kills from Sean Vitousek and Jack Pichard to even the score both times. Brian Hamming would add a block, and the Tigers would claim a 30-29 lead after an error by Doug Soviero. It appeared Sacred Heart had evened it at 30-30 on a kill by Soviero, but the officials conferred and agreed that there had been an illegal hit from the back row, and Princeton took the 31-29 win. Sacred Heart never recovered from the fourth game and fell into a deep and immediate hole. Princeton would push past the Pioneer starters, and eventually the reserves, for a 30-11 win.
Princeton, playing without leading hitter Blake Robinson, who suffered an ankle injury Sunday against Juniata, got 11 kills apiece from Vitousek, Burns and Hamming. Mark Stevens had a match-high nine digs, while Hamming had seven blocks.
The Tigers have two road matches left next week, including the season finale at Penn State. That match will be the final Tait Division match of the season. Princeton is currently in fourth place in the division, and if it can hold off Springfield and George Mason, the Tigers will host an EIVA quarterfinal on Saturday, April 24.