Princeton University Athletics
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Volleyball Heads To California For Pair Of Season-Opening Matches
January 28, 2013 | Men's Volleyball
UC-SANTA BARBARA MATCH: LIVE STATS l LIVE AUDIO
UC-SAN DIEGO MATCH: LIVE STATS l LIVE VIDEO
The men's volleyball teams at UC-Santa Barbara and UC-San Diego have combined to play 17 matches already this season. This week, both schools will play host to a Princeton men's team that hasn't even written down its first starting lineup yet.
Princeton will begin its 2013 season Tuesday night at 7 pm PST against the UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos, who came into the week ranked 10th nationally and have already earned a victory over No. 7 Long Beach State already this season. This will be the first meeting between the two schools.
On Wednesday, Princeton will return to No. 12 UC-San Diego for a 5 pm PST matchup with the Tritons. UC-San Diego has three victories over nationally ranked opponents, though it is coming off three straight losses to Top 10 teams. UC-San Diego leads the all-time series 13-5 against Princeton, which includes an 11-2 record against the Tigers since the program became an official varsity team at Princeton in 1997. The Tigers can carry some momentum into the match, though; they rallied from an 0-2 hole last season to defeat the Tritons 3-2 for the program's first win over a MPSF team since 1997.
Princeton returns six starters this season, including reigning first-team All-EIVA honorees Michael Dye and Cody Kessel. A full preview of the 2013 Princeton team is available here.