Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Mike Vincent Earns EIVA Player Of The Week Honors For Second-Place Men's Volleyball
March 20, 2007 | Men's Volleyball
Sophomore middle hitter Mike Vincent picked up Princeton's first EIVA Tait Division Player of the Week honor of the season after leading the Tigers to an important home sweep of both St. Francis and Juniata last weekend. His performance helped push Princeton to second place in the league standings, and with a strong finish, the Tigers could earn a double-bye and move straight into the EIVA semifinals.
Vincent hit .478 with only one error against St. Francis, and his 4-0 service run at the end of the second game, which included three aces, turned a 25-25 game into a 30-26 Princeton win. He led Princeton with 17 kills in the thrilling 3-2 win over Juniata, and his seven assisted blocks led a Tiger defense that came up big in the final two games. For the week, Vincent hit .407 with 29 kills, 12 blocks and six aces.
For the season, Vincent is averaging 2.6 kills and 1.0 blocks per game, and he is hitting an impressive .342 overall. He had one of his strongest serving weekends to lead Princeton past its central Pennsylvania rivals and is second on the team with .23 aces per game.
After a long stretch of home matches, Princeton is now off until the last weekend in March. The Tigers will open on Friday, March 30, at the No. 6 Penn State Nittany Lions before taking on East Stroudsburg the next day. With at least a split that weekend, the Tigers would likely be in excellent position to clinch second place in its EIVA finale at George Mason on April 14. With the top two teams in the league earning double-byes, the winner of the match could avoid playing until the league semifinal on April 26 in State College, Pa. The two semifinal winners would play April 28 for the league title and one of four spots in the NCAA tournament.
Penn State has all but clinched the top spot in the league with a 6-0 league mark. Princeton is currently 6-3 in the league, putting it one game ahead of both St. Francis (4-3) and George Mason (4-3). Juniata is 4-4 and East Stroudsburg is 2-4, but botht should easily qualify for the playoffs ahead of winless Rutgers-Newark. Among the three teams with three losses, each has to play Penn State one more time. Princeton has swept St. Francis, St. Francis has swept George Mason, and George Mason defeated Princeton in Dillon Gym during their only meeting of the season. Each of Mason's five final Tait matches, including the finale against Princeton, will be at home.
Princeton has two nonleague home matches remaining, an April 6 showdown with NJIT and an April 10 match with Stevens Tech. If the Tigers do not place second in the league, they will host an EIVA quarterfinal match Saturday, April 21.