Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Men's Volleyball Prepares For Tuesday Home Opener Against NYU
February 07, 2011 | Men's Volleyball
The Princeton men's volleyball team is coming off one of its most impressive and memorable seasons in more than a decade, and it is looking to build off that success in 2011.
The Tigers, under then first-year head coach Sam Shweisky, won a slew of home thrillers to clinch the second seed in the EIVA postseason and ended up reaching the Eastern final for the first time since 1998. Princeton made a solid showing, pushing eventual NCAA finalist Penn State through two tough games before ultimately falling 3-0.
Shweisky, who earned EIVA Coach of the Year honors, believes his team has the talent and drive to get back to the league championship match, though he knows that the league has only gotten stronger and his team will need to raise its level of play.
Princeton is 1-3 on the season, although all four matches have been on the road. The Tigers opened the season with a trio of matches in California and showed improvement throughout; they pushed a tough Cal-Baptist team to four games and defeated Hope International to conclude the trip. Their EIVA season opened last Friday night at Rutgers-Newark, which came into the match undefeated. The Tigers had the early momentum with a 25-21 victory, but the hosts battled back to win the final three sets.
Princeton will count on senior co-captains Vincent Tuminelli and Keenan McCarthy this season, and both have had strong starts to the season. Tuminelli leads the team with 3.5 kills and 1.9 digs, and he matched freshman teammate Jeff Stapleton with 13 kills at Rutgers.
McCarthy leads the team with a .275 attack percentage and is second with 10 blocks. McCarthy is in his first season as a starter and has done a good job taking over for Jeff McCown, a first-team All-EIVA middle last year.
Following tonight's match, the Tigers will play two road matches before returning on the 18th to host division rival George Mason.
NYU is 5-3 on the season, though it is coming off a five-game loss to Sacred Heart last week. Taylor Fauntleroy leads the Violets with more than 3.8 kills per set.