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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
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Dartmouth
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Wild Rally Sends Women's Volleyball To Sweep, First Ivy Win
October 07, 2005 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 7, 2005
Box Score
PRINCETON - Freshmen combined for 41 of Princeton's 52 kills in a much-needed 3-0 women's volleyball victory over Dartmouth Friday night at Dillon Gym. Two-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week Parker Henritze led the way with 17 kills, although it was junior Joanna Mandecki who had the biggest swing of match.
Princeton improved to 9-3, 1-1 in the Ivy League, with the 30-23, 30-20, 30-28 win. Dartmouth suffered its first league loss and fell to 9-4, 2-1.
"It was a confidence factor and a matter of execution for us," senior setter Jenny Senske said after leading the offense with 39 assists. "It feels great to get our first win, and hopefully we can take that momentum into tomorrow night.
Princeton, coming off a disappointing 0-2 performance last weekend, came out strong against the Ivy League-leading Big Green. After playing mostly sideout ball until 19-19, two kills by Henritze and a kill by senior middle Brittany Wood gave Princeton a 22-19 lead in the opener. The Tigers built on that and got a combination block by Wood and Senske to close the game.
The second game was the kind of volleyball head coach Glenn Nelson hoped he could get from his combination of youth and experience. Freshman Kelli Grobe, who is fully recovered from an injury she suffered prior to the Rider Invitational, served 10 straight Tiger points to build a 14-2 lead, and Princeton limited Dartmouth to a -.024 hitting percentage in the 30-20 win. The third game was a wild swing of emotions for the Tigers, who were down 6-0 before they knew what hit them. In a time where some would look to seniors, Princeton found its winning ways from the freshman class. Playing five different rookies in the final game, including middle Lindsay Ensign, who played a terrific match with 14 kills and a .600 hitting percentage, the Tigers rallied back into the game.
Then they all went silent. Midway through the game, Senske went down in the middle of the point and clutched her ankle. After a couple minutes with trainer John Furtado, Senske walked off the court on her own. A few points later, after wrapping her ankle, she provided an emotional lift by returning to the court. That sparked a run to get the score back even.
With Dartmouth serving at 28-28, Ensign recorded her final kill of the match to give Princeton match point. It would only take one swing, as serving specialist Joanna Mandecki came off the bench and ripped a winner that Sandy Barbut couldn't handle.
While Henritze and Ensign combined for 31 kills for the freshman class, Sasha Sadrai (6), Grobe (3) and Jessica Hoffman (1) each played key roles.
"With Kelli feeling OK, we have a lot more options," Nelson said afterwards. "It allows us to bring Sasha in for anybody if we need, and we got some blocks from Kelli, which we weren't getting on that side. [The depth] makes everybody know that if they don't perform, there's somebody waiting to go in, and quite frankly, we've never had that here. It's a total team effort."
The team defense was led by junior libero Jenny McReynolds, who had a match-high 16 digs, and Wood, who chipped in with five blocks.
Dartmouth got 13 kills and 15 digs from Jess Thomas, while middle blocker Nadine Parris recorded 11 kills and a .455 hitting percentage.
Princeton will face Harvard Saturday at 4 p.m. in Dillon Gym.