Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Men's Volleyball, Finally, Will Make Home Debut Tuesday Night
February 28, 2012 | Men's Volleyball
After eight straight road matches to open its 2012 season, the Princeton men's volleyball team will finally make its home debut Tuesday night at 7 in an EIVA showdown against Rutgers-Newark.
Princeton comes into its home opener with a 4-4 record, including an impressive 3-2 mark in EIVA play. After winning only one road match all of last season, and only one EIVA road match during their run to the EIVA finals two years ago, the Tigers picked up three road wins in the span of three weeks.
Even more impressively, they did it without their top returning hitter. Sophomore Jeff Stapleton has been on the sideline with a variety of injuries, and while head coach Sam Shweisky believes his outside standout will be back in the lineup at some point, he remains unsure of exactly when that time will come.
Princeton has gotten all-league level hitting from two starters in the interim. Freshman Cody Kessel currently ranks fifth in the EIVA with 3.55 kills per set, while junior Michael Dye leads the league with a .436 hitting percentage. Over the last weekend, which included a sweep at St. Francis and a loss at nationally ranked Penn State, Dye recorded 22 kills and made only four errors.
Leading the offense is senior setter Scott Liljestrom. The youngest of three Princeton-playing Liljestrom brothers, Scott is the only one to have started an EIVA final. He looks determined to become the second Princeton setter to start two EIVA finals (Jason Morrow '00 was the first); in conference matches this season, Princeton has the second-best team hitting percentage (.329).
While setting is what Liljestrom is best known for, it was his late defensive heroics that helped Princeton to a 3-2 road win at Rutgers-Newark on Feb. 17. Tied at 11 in the fifth set, Princeton got a kill from Dye and consecutive blocks from Liljestrom to take control in an eventual 15-12 win.
A win Tuesday would send Princeton into a second place tie with Saint Francis, though Princeton would have the tiebreak edge with the road win last weekend. Both teams will still have eight league matches remaining, though Princeton will play six of them in Dillon Gym.