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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
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Dartmouth
Players Mentioned
Donohue Powers Volleyball To 3-2 Thriller Over Dartmouth
November 14, 2009 | Women's Volleyball
Senior Sheena Donohue has grown accustomed to playing the final weekend of the season for an Ivy League title. That wasn't the case this year, but you'd never know it by watching her. Donohue played one of the best matches of her brilliant career Friday night to lead Princeton to a 3-2 home win over Dartmouth for the Tigers' first five-set win of the season.
The win was Princeton's eighth in the last nine matches and improved the team to 10-13 overall, 8-4 in the Ivy League. The Tigers lead Harvard by one half game for third place in the league and will meet the Crimson Saturday at 4 p.m. Harvard will be coming off the momentum of a road win over Ivy League leader Penn Friday night; that win assured Princeton it would remain the only program to go for 14-0 through an Ivy League season for at least one more year.
That was icing on the cake for Donohue, who was an All-Ivy outside hitter for that 2007 championship team. She won't end her senior season with an Ivy League title, but it hasn't dampened her spirits during Senior Weekend.
"These are the last matches I'm ever going to play," she said. "They are as important as an Olympic final to me."
It was her golden effort that carried Princeton through a tough 17-25, 25-21, 25-17, 23-25, 15-12 win over a gritty Dartmouth squad that fell to 12-12 overall and 7-6 in the league. While Donohue had a match-high 26 kills, both freshman Lydia Rudnick and sophomore Cathryn Quinn recorded strong offensive performances will 11 kills apiece. Donohue's 17 digs also led the way, while Rudnick recorded 14 and defensive specialists Torri Patel and Hillary Ford added 13 and 11, respectively.
Sophomore setter Michaela Venuti paced the offense with 53 assists, while Elizabeth McStravick added three blocks and a .400 hitting percentage. Senior Taylor Carroll also added three blocks, along with seven kills, two aces and two assists.
After a strong Dartmouth effort carried it to a first-set win, Princeton battled back with 25-21 and 25-17 victories to build a 2-1 lead. The Big Green built a four-point lead late in the fourth (18-14), and head coach Jolie Ward called a timeout. Instead of coaching in the huddle, she let the players figure out the issues themselves.
"I wanted them to realize that this was in their hands," she said. "They did a good job and took that into the fifth set."
Princeton nearly pulled out the win in four, but Dartmouth held on for a 25-23 victory. These were the matches in September that went against Princeton time and again. But this isn't September, and it isn't the same Tiger team. The home team shook off any disappointment from the fourth game and built off an excited crowd to gain an early edge. While Dartmouth never led during the final set, it did even the score at 12. Following a Big Green service error, Rudnick recorded back-to-back kills to end the match.
Princeton's 4 p.m. match with Harvard Saturday will begin with a Senior Day tribute to the four members of the Class of 2010: Taylor Carroll, Rachel Cocalis, Sheena Donohue and Torri Patel.
"We needed that kind of performance out of Sheena tonight," Ward said. "When your best offensive player is playing like that, everybody else feeds off it."