Princeton University Athletics
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Volleyball Looks To Solidify Playoff Positioning In Key EIVA Weekend
March 08, 2012 | Men's Volleyball
The EIVA will take four teams into its postseason weekend (April 26-28), and the Princeton men's volleyball team currently holds that fourth position. The Tigers will have a far better sense of where they stand after they take on the two teams right below them in the league standings this weekend.
Princeton is currently 6-5 overall, 5-3 in the EIVA. Its only losses have come from the top two teams in the standings, a road loss at No. 1 Penn State and a season sweep against No. 2 Harvard. Last weekend's 3-2 home loss to the Crimson left the Tigers disappointed, but it can also serve as a motivating factor to get back into a semifinal showdown with their Ivy rival.
Moving from fourth to third is one goal, but it's less important than avoiding a drop to fifth. The two programs looking to make that happen are NJIT (6-10, 2-2 EIVA) and George Mason (6-11, 2-4 EIVA). NJIT has played the fewest league matches of anybody in the EIVA, and they have six of their final 10 at home.
That stretch begins Friday at 7, when the Highlanders host Princeton. The two teams didn't meet last season, but NJIT did open its home conference play with a win over Sacred Heart.
One day later, Princeton will return to Dillon Gym to take on George Mason. The Pioneers may be struggling in the league race, but they aren't far away from being the No. 2 team. Of their four EIVA losses, three came in the fifth set; the fifth-set score in three matches were 15-12 (Sacred Heart), 18-16 (Saint Francis) and 17-15 (Harvard).
Flip a point here or there, and Mason is much higher in the standings. Princeton will need to keep George Mason below them by trying to re-establish home dominance.
The Tigers are led by freshman Cody Kessel, who ranks fourth in the EIVA with 3.6 kills per set. Junior Michael Dye ranks fourth in attack percentage (.335), while senior Scott Liljestrom is fifth among starting setters with 9.4 assists per set. Freshman Will Siroky ranks sixth in the conference with 1.1 blocks per set, though he will take on George Mason's Piotr Dabrowski Saturday, and Dabrowski is second in the conference with 1.5 blocks per set.