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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
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Volleyball Sweeps Brown, Sets Up Ivy Title Showdown With Yale Saturday At 4
November 14, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
Last season, the Princeton women's volleyball team clinched the Ivy League championship in a hotel room in Providence. This season, the Tigers can do it in a much more exciting environment. Following a 3-0 Friday night win over Brown, the Princeton Tigers will play for the 2008 Ivy League title when it takes on Yale Saturday at 4 p.m. inside the friendly walls of Dillon Gym.
It is a must-win situation for Princeton, which will enter the match with an 11-1 Ivy League record. Yale, winners of a 3-2 thriller Friday night at The Palestra, stand at 12-1 and would win the outright title and the NCAA tournament berth by beating Princeton Saturday. If Princeton wins the match, it will clinch at least a share of the title and still need to beat Penn next Wednesday night at Dillon Gym to win the league title outright and head back to the NCAA tournament.
Princeton assured itself of the opportunity by rebounding from a slow start and defeating Brown 25-22, 25-12, 25-18 at Dillon Gym. The Tigers dealt with a slow start in the first game, but they righted themselves in time to win in three.
"I'm not sure we had our heads completely in it at the start," senior captain Parker Henritze, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year. "We should have, because Brown is a spoiler team. They always seem to be spoiling somebody's season, and they did it to us before. By the second game, I think we got into a flow,"
Henritze was one of two Princeton players who hit .500 or better with double-digit kills in the match. Senior Lindsey Ensign led the way with 14 kills on 19 swings (.684), while Henritze hit .526 with 11 kills. Freshman middle Cathryn Quinn hit .467 with nine kills, while Kelli Grobe had four kills on seven swings with no errors (.571). As a team, Princeton hit .422 for the match and held Brown to a .134 percentage.
Senior Bailey Robinson paced the offense with 39 assists, while freshman Hillary Ford led the defense with 13 digs.
The majority of the drama came in the opening game. After Princeton jumped out to a 4-0 lead, Brown ran off seven of the next eight points and kept the first game close throughout. With the score tied at 17, Quinn and Ivy League Player of the Week Sheena Donohue recorded kills to open a two-point lead. Princeton held that lead throughout and got both a late kill from Quinn and a block from Quinn and Grobe to close the game. From that point, the upperclass-laden squad kept the momentum squarely in its corner and can now focus on Saturday's showdown with Yale.
In their first meeting of the season, Yale defeated Princeton 3-0 in New Haven to end the Tigers' 18-match Ivy League win streak.
"They were prepared for everything we did," Henritze said. "I give them credit, but I think we're ready for tomorrow. We have the best fans in the Ivy League, and it will be an exciting day."