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Volleyball Team Faces Crucial Mason Match After 3-1 Road Loss To NJIT
March 10, 2012 | Men's Volleyball
Despite 18 kills from freshman Cody Kessel, the Princeton men's volleyball team dropped its second straight EIVA match with a 3-1 road loss at NJIT.
Coming off its 3-2 home loss to Harvard last weekend, Princeton was looking to rebuild some momentum heading into Saturday's 3:00 showdown with George Mason in Dillon Gym. Instead, Princeton will need to fight off the Pioneers to stay above the .500 mark in league play.
NJIT opened the match with a 25-21 win, but Princeton bounced back with a 25-21 win in the second. NJIT made it three straight 25-21 games with a win in the third, and it closed the match 25-20. The win moves the Highlanders past Princeton by percentage points, though the teams will meet once more and NJIT still has to play three more league matches than Princeton.
Kessel led all players with 18 kills, while sophomore outside Davis Waddell added 13 kills and five digs. Sophomore Jeff Stapleton, playing in only his second league matches of the season, recorded seven kills, five digs and three blocks, while junior middle Michael Dye added eight kills and four blocks.
Senior setter Scott Liljestrom paced the offense with 46 assists, and he helped Princeton hit .483 in its victorious second game. The Tigers didn't reach half that total in any other set, though. Serving was also an issue for the Tigers; they had zero service aces and 12 service errors, while NJIT had six service aces.