Volleyball Won't Match Historic Effort, And They Couldn't Be Happier

Saturday, September 24

Philadelphia, PA

7:00 PM

Princeton University

7-3, 1-0

Penn

5-8, 0-1

Princeton

Penn

Brittany Ptak had a career-best 21 kills in a 3-2 road win at Penn in the Ivy League opener.

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Volleyball Won't Match Historic Effort, And They Couldn't Be Happier

September 24, 2016 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Brittany Ptak will never forget the historic run that brought Princeton a 15th Ivy League title last fall, but she didn't want to relive it again this season.

Ptak and her Tiger teammates dug out of an 0-3 hole last fall by winning 10 of their final 11 matches to claim the Ivy League title. They were determined for a far better start in 2016, and they took a big first step Saturday night at the Palestra with a 3-2 win over a feisty Penn squad.

Though the match went the distance, Princeton was in full control of the three sets it won. After dropping the opener, the Tigers claimed wins of 25-11 and 25-15. Penn took a close fourth set and were within two points (5-3) in the fifth before Princeton won 10 of the final 12 points for a fifth straight win and a 1-0 start in the Ivy League.

CAREER EFFORTS ALL AROUND
Ptak, a two-time All-Ivy League middle, was one of several Tigers to post career-best numbers in the Ivy-opening win. She broke the 20-kill mark for the first time in her career (21), and she did so with an incredibly efficient hitting percentage of .625.

Freshman Maggie O'Connell, the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Week and MVP of the Rutgers Tournament, added a career-best 18 kills and five digs of her own, and she added to the Tiger efficiency with a .586 performance. Fellow freshman Devon Peterkin joined reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Cara Mattaliano with 29 kills and 27 digs on the outside, while sophomore Nnenna Ibe had six kills, four blocks and no errors from the middle.

All-Ivy setter Claire Nussbaum paced the offense as she normally does, but she posted career numbers on both side of the court; she had a career-high 62 assists to help Princeton hit .348 for the match, and she added a personal-best total of 22 digs in the win.

Are we done with career highs? Not quite. Junior libero Kelly Matthews added 28 digs to lead a defense that outdig Penn 98-81.

CHAMPIONSHIP REMATCH
Princeton returns to Dillon Gym for its home opener next weekend, and it will do so with a rematch of last year's Ivy NCAA bit playoff match. Harvard, which opened its Ivy season with a win over Dartmouth, shared the league title with Princeton last season and captured the postseason bid with a 3-1 home win; those two teams will meet Friday night at 7 pm at Dillon Gym, a match you can watch live on the Ivy League Digital Network.

Here was match point for @PrincetonVolley, which won 10 of the final 12 points to take the match. pic.twitter.com/qMlUqSqYtS
— Princeton Tigers (@PUTIGERS) September 25, 2016