Princeton University Athletics
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Men's Volleyball Faces Huge Home Weekend, Opens With No. 8 Penn State
March 29, 2012 | Men's Volleyball
The Princeton men's volleyball team is in the middle of a wild chase for two playoff spots in the EIVA race, and it has an opportunity to make a major statement in a pair of home league matches this weekend.
The newly configured EIVA is one division that will take four of its eight teams to the postseason. At 9-0, the eighth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions look set to host the championships as the top seed, while Sacred Heart (1-9) is all but eliminated.
Barring dynamic changes one way or the other, you can probably put Harvard (6-2 EIVA) into the postseason, and you can leave Rutgers-Newark (1-7) out of it.
So now you have four teams for two spots, and here is where the fun begins.
Saint Francis, NJIT and George Mason are the three teams vying with Princeton for one of those two berths in the EIVA postseason, which will begin April 26 at (in all likelihood) the Rec Center at Penn State. The Tigers have four matches remaining in the league, starting Friday night at Dillon Gym against the Nittany Lions.
The final three?
Saint Francis, NJIT and George Mason.
Can't ask for much more than that.
Currently, NJIT stands third with a 4-3 league mark, while Saint Francis is fourth at 5-4. Princeton is 5-5 and holds fifth, while George Mason is sixth at 3-4. Outside of the Saint Francis-NJIT combination, which split its season series, each team will play one of the other three at least one time apiece. You could make a case that any team is as likely to finish third as it is to finish sixth.
Ironically, the team that could be Princeton's best friend the rest of the season is Harvard. The Crimson, which is just outside the national Top 15, still has two matches remaining with NJIT and a road match at Saint Francis, so it could help its Ivy brethren out quite a bit.
Of course, if Princeton takes care of its own business, it won't need the help.
After the Tigers take on Penn State Friday night, they will prepare for a 2 p.m. showdown Saturday against the Red Flash of Saint Francis. A Princeton victory would clinch the season series over Saint Francis and assure it an important tiebreak in the final standings. A 12-kill effort by junior Michael Dye helped Princeton to a 3-0 win at Saint Francis in late February.
Princeton got some much-needed momentum last weekend when it rallied out of a 2-0 hole for a 3-2 victory over Juniata. Freshman Cody Kessel, who ranks eighth nationally and first among all freshmen in kills, recorded 31 kills in the victory over Juniata and was named EIVA Offensive Player of the Week. He ranks first in the EIVA in points and second in kills.
Three other Tiger players are in the EIVA top five; senior setter Scott Liljestrom ranks fourth in the league in assists (9.72), Dye ranks fifth in hitting percentage (.320), and freshman Will Siroky is fifth in blocks (1.09).