.png&width=24&type=webp)
Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Brown
Players Mentioned
Volleyball Headed To NCAA Tournament After 3-0 Win At Brown; Nelson Sets Princeton All-Time Wins Record
November 10, 2007 | Women's Volleyball
From his hotel room in Providence, volleyball head coach and new Princeton all-time wins leader Glenn Nelson spoke proudly of a magical, albeit unfinished, 2007 season. Hours earlier, his Tigers had won their 18th straight match, a 3-0 victory over Brown that clinched a share of the Ivy League title. And only minutes earlier, following a 3-1 victory for Yale over Brown, Princeton's ticket to the NCAA tournament had officially been punched.
Several rooms down, there was music, dancing and a close-knit group of players celebrating Princeton's first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2001.
"We got dinner after beating Brown and watched the stats on Parker [Henritze]'s computer," senior co-captain and former National Libero of the Year Jenny McReynolds said. "When it was done, we just started screaming and texting people. Then we had a dance party for about a half-hour. I'm so happy. It means so much to be going to the NCAAs. It's the fulfillment of everything we have worked for."
The journey began with a 3-2 thriller over Penn in the Ivy League opener at Dillon Gym. Nelson correctly predicted that Penn would be there until the end, and it was the Quakers that proved to be the final obstacle for Princeton. The Tigers eliminated Yale with their 32-30, 30-21, 30-25 win over Brown. Sheena Donohue led Princeton with 18 kills, while NCAA assists leader Bailey Robinson paced the offense with 48 assists. Juniors Lindsey Ensign and Parker Henritze, both well on their way to a second straight first-team All-Ivy season, combined for 28 kills in the win, while McReynolds added 26 digs.
After losing at Brown during a 2006 season that saw Princeton fall one match short of the Ivy League title, it was an extra sweet win for the Tigers.
"We've all lost here," McReynolds said. "We weren't nervous, we were fired up. We had heart and fire, and we wanted to win it."
"It was a tight first game, but we were steady at the end," Nelson said. "We're notoriously slow starters, but we were consistent when we needed it. I thought Sheena was great tonight. She really stepped up."
That win moved Princeton to 12-0 in league play, meaning only Penn could share the title with Princeton if it won out and Princeton lost out. Those hopes were dashed with the Quakers' 3-1 loss at Yale, their second loss to the Bulldogs this season.
"It's been a magical season for us," Nelson said. "We're a year older, a year smarter. They thought they should have won it last year, but we're definitely more experienced now. I know they'll try to finish the job and go 14-0 in the league, which nobody has done, but right now, I'm very happy."
While he was proud of the team, the Princeton athletics community can salute Nelson. He won his 560th match Friday night, one more than longtime colleague and former Princeton softball coach Cindy Cohen, who won 559 games in her tenure at Princeton. While his victories with the men's volleyball program, both as a club team and a vrasity program, give him well over 1,000 career wins at Princeton, he now stands alone atop the official wins list at Old Nassau.
"The credit goes to the players, and then to [assistant coach] Sabrina King, who recruited them, so I'm really third in line," Nelson said. "But I do feel a sense of vindication. When players come here, we give them the offense and the defense, some dos and don'ts, and we let them play. To average 20 wins over 26 years, you have to be doing something right. I don't micromanage them. I'm not like an NBA coach, running up and down the sideline. I believe it's their game, and I let them go out and do it.
"It's not string theory. It's not imaginary numbers. It's not D.H. Lawrence. It's volleyball. I let them play."
And they have been playing, and winning, under Nelson since before any of the current Ivy League champions were even born. The Ivy title is the 11th for Nelson with the women's volleyball team and the 14th for the team all-time. Princeton hasn't lost since Sept. 14, when the Tigers fell to Liberty in the Villanova Tournament.
The NCAA first and second rounds will be played November 29-30 or November 30-December 1 or 1-2, 2007, at campus sites. The official tournament field will be announced the Sunday after Thanksgiving at 8 p.m. on ESPNU.