Princeton Opens Spring Trip With Five-Set Victory At Lindenwood, Extends Win Streak To Six

Tuesday, March 20

St. Charles, Mo.

7:00 PM CT

Princeton University

7-11

Lindenwood

8-11

Princeton

Lindenwood

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Princeton Opens Spring Trip With Five-Set Victory At Lindenwood, Extends Win Streak To Six

March 20, 2018 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

This was the type of box score Princeton head coach Sam Shweisky was expecting to see entering the 2018 season, and it's one that shows the Tigers could be hitting their stride at the right time.

Shweisky believed his trio of sophomore hitters could join senior captain Junior Oboh to form a powerful offensive unit, and that is what Princeton showed Tuesday night in a 3-2 road win at Lindenwood to open the Tigers' three-match spring break trip. A 19-kill effort from George Huhmann led Princeton to a hard-fought 25-23, 22-25, 25-21, 14-25, 15-9 victory over the Lions that extended Princeton's win streak to six matches and improved the Tigers to 7-11 on the season.

Huhmann had two kills and a service ace late in the fifth set to put Princeton on the brink of victory, and Oboh put down his seventh kill of the match to clinch the win. Sophomore Parker Dixon, an All-EIVA honoree last year, has overcome early struggles this season in impressive fashion recently, and he was terrific at Lindenwood with 14 kills, four blocks, and a .353 hitting percentage. Classmate Greg Luck posted a double-double with 12 kills and 14 digs, while freshman setter Joe Kelly had a double-double of his own with 48 assists and 13 digs. Mike Fuerst added three kills from the middle, while freshman libero Cade Keegan had eight digs in the win.

Princeton did a nice job bouncing back from a tough fourth set and grabbing a four-point lead on consecutive kills from Luck and Huhmann midway through the finale. Lindenwood tried to rally, but Princeton answered every charge with a key point, and then Huhmann all but put the match away late with three big swings. Huhmann has been arguably the EIVA's hottest player over the last month, as he has won three of the last four EIVA individual honors during weeks when Princeton has been in competition.

The Tigers will now head to Illinois for matches on both Thursday and Friday at 7 pm local (8 pm ET) at McKendree, which has gone 8-10 this season and is in a tight battle for a top-four spot in the league. McKendree, which came to Dillon Gym two years ago and earned a 3-0 victory over Princeton, has a win over Sain Francis this season in its only match against EIVA competition. Live video for both matches will be available here, and live stats will be available here.