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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Cornell
Players Mentioned
Seniors Take Control in Final Appearance at Dillon to Sweep Ivy Leader Cornell
November 12, 2005 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 12, 2005
Box Score
PRINCETON, N.J. - Finally on Saturday, an upset bid went Princeton's way. After the field hockey team's near-miss against No. 3 Duke in the NCAA Tournament and Yale hurting football's Ivy title hopes, the Tiger women's volleyball team (16-8, 7-6 Ivy) knocked off league-leading Cornell, 3-0, making the Big Red watch the Ivy scoreboard to find out if their outright league title hopes will be realized.
Neither team was especially proficient on offense at Dillon Gym on Saturday afternoon; the Tigers outhit Cornell .160 to .107 for the match. While Cornell's Elizabeth Bishop saw a match-high 15 kills go for naught, Princeton had three players with double-figure kills. Freshman Parker Henritze and senior Lauren Grumet had 12 each and freshman Lindsey Ensign had 11. Junior Jenny McReynolds led Princeton on defense with a match-high 40 digs.
In game one, Princeton jumped out to a lead as large as 15-5, helped by three aces from sophomore Emily Turner. Cornell scored five of the next six points to crawl to within 16-10, but Princeton answered with four in a row to regain a 10-point lead at 20-10. The Big Red got no closer than five the rest of the way as Princeton took the opening frame, 30-24. Five players recorded kills for the Tigers in game one, led by a 4 for 8 effort from senior Brittany Wood. While Bishop paced Cornell with six kills, none of her teammates had more than two despite the Big Red outhitting Princeton, .128 to .111. It was Princeton that looked like the team seeking an unshared Ivy title in game two, recording its best offensive game of the night with 17 kills and a .235 hitting percentage as Cornell hit .111 in the game. Again, a balanced offense was the key for the Orange and Black as four Tigers had kills and freshman Kelli Grobe led the home team with five. After a 9-9 tie, Princeton began to pull away with an 11-4 run to put the Tigers ahead, 20-13. Cornell would trim the lead to three at 25-22, but came no closer as Princeton won game two, 30-25.
It appeared that game three would be the turning point for the visitors as Princeton was forced to chip away at a deficit for most of the stanza. After Cornell took a 14-9 lead, Princeton tied the match at 16-16 with the help of three attack errors to go with its four kills during that stretch. Following a tie at 20-20, Cornell scored the next three points to put Princeton's upset bid in jeopardy, seven points from giving the Big Red game three and momentum heading into the evening's possible final two frames. With Cornell ahead 24-21, the Big Red hurt themselves as much as Princeton helped itself offensively as three errors and a handling miscue paired with an Ensign kill as the next five points went to Princeton. With Tiger supporters frenzied, the run gave the Orange and Black a 26-24 lead and put the home team four points from making a clean sweep of the first-place Big Red.
After a Grumet attack error nullified a one-point Princeton lead at 29-28 and ensured that the game would go to extra points, the senior redeemed herself in the last home match of her career with two kills around a Princeton attack error that gave the Tigers a 31-30 lead and service for the match. Another senior, Jenny Senske, polished off the Big Red with a service ace, giving Princeton a 32-30 game-three win and completing the sweep.
Princeton ends its season at Penn on Wednesday evening while Yale, just a half-match behind Cornell in the Ivy standings, can share a league title with Cornell by beating Brown on Wednesday. With a loss, the Ivy crown is all the Big Red's.