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Volleyball Drops Five-Set Thriller At Juniata
April 10, 2010 | Men's Volleyball
Six of the nine Tait Division matches for the Princeton men's volleyball team went down to the wire. Fittingly, the season will now come down to the wire as well. A heartbreaking 3-2 loss Friday night at Juniata leaves the Tiger men's volleyball team in a weekend filled with the best and worst of possible scenarios.
Penn State clinched the top seed in the divisional race weeks ago, but every other spot in the division remains up for grabs. With three matches overall remaining to be played, the Tigers can maintain their current second spot in the Tait standings with a win Sunday afternoon at George Mason. That will be Mason's second match in as many days, as the Patriots will host Juniata Saturday night at 7 p.m.
Should Mason defeat Juniata, Princeton would clinch a spot in the Tait Division playoffs regardless of its result Sunday. However, should Juniata win Saturday and Mason defeat Princeton Sunday, the Tigers could be forced to rely on tiebreakers to get in the postseason.
Princeton was within a couple points of clinching a spot Friday night after a rousing comeback in the fourth set, but the host Eagles proved to be too strong. Senior Carl Hamming had one of his best performances of the season, recording 19 kills and hitting .410, while junior Vincent Tuminelli recorded 17 kills, 12 digs and 10 blocks for Princeton. Sophomore setter Scott Liljestrom recorded 61 assists and 13 digs, while freshman Michael Dye recorded 12 kills and hit .345.
For the second time this season, Juniata jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Princeton with wins of 30-27 and 30-25. And for the second time this season, the Tigers rallied to force a fifth set. After a 30-24 victory in the third, the Tigers rallied from an eight-point deficit in the fourth and got a Liljestrom ace to clinch a 31-29 victory.
That left Princeton in yet another five-set match, its ninth overall and eighth in its last ten matches. Unfortunately for the Tigers, while they were able to force one tie and trailed by only one point on nine different occasions, they never managed to grab a lead. A kill by Hamming got Princeton to within one at 14-13, but Zach Wanner ended the match with his 19th kill to keep the Eagles' playoff hopes alive.