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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Another Tiger Sweep! Volleyball Gets Ivy Player, Rookie Honors Once Again
November 03, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
For the second straight week, the streaking Princeton women's volleyball team has claimed both the Ivy League Player and Rookie of the Week honors.
Junior Cara Mattaliano shared the Ivy League Player of the Week award after powering the Tiger offense to wins over a pair of first-place Ivy League teams, Dartmouth and Harvard. After a 14-kill performance in the win over the Big Green, Mattaliano had 16 kills and 10 digs in the Tigers' first win over Harvard in six tries.
Mattaliano, who moved into the Ivy League Top 5 in kills after the weekend, averaged 5.0 kills per set in the sweep, and helped the Tigers get within one match of first place in the league.
"Cara has shown great development this season in her leadership and overall game," head coach Sabrina King said. "She is definitely the spark plug on the court, and we have relied on her heavily this season to score points, especially in big moments. She did not disappoint this weekend."
For the second straight week, setter Claire Nussbaum earned Rookie of the Week honors. She posted a double-double (32 assists, 11 digs) in the win over Dartmouth, and she followed with 45 assists in the 3-0 win over Harvard. She averaged 15 assists per set over Harvard, a season-best, and she helped the Tigers hit over .280 in both matches — a significant jump over their early-season road losses against both.
"Claire continues to step up to the difficult role of pacing the offense," King said. "Her defensive game has also been clutch for us."
The Tigers are now 6-4 in the Ivy — 6-1 in their last seven — and will host both Yale and Brown this weekend. Yale handed Princeton its only loss in the last seven matches, while the Tigers needed to go five to pick up the victory over Brown in Providence.
A full weekend preview will come later in the week.