No. 13 Princeton Earns First Ever NCAA Win With 3-1 Takedown of Barton

Thursday, April 25

Wilson, N.C.

7:00 PM

Princeton University

18-12

Barton

25-5

Princeton

Barton

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

No. 13 Princeton Earns First Ever NCAA Win With 3-1 Takedown of Barton

April 25, 2019 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

WILSON, N.C. – The No. 13 Princeton Tigers (18-12) took down the Barton Bulldogs (24-6), 3-1, at the Wilson Gymnasium in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.

With the victory, Princeton picked up its first NCAA victory ever. It will take on No. 3 Pepperdine on Apr. 30 (10:30 p.m.) at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif. Those two squads met in the season opener with Pepperdine winning 3-1.

"First, we would like to thank Barton for hosting a top notch NCAA event," said head coach Sam Shweisky. "It was a great crowd and environment to play a fun and competitive match. Second, I would like to commend our seniors, Kendall Ratter, Billy Andrew, and Corry Short, for leading the charge. They poured their hearts into this match led the team to our first NCAA victory in program history. We are so excited to be headed to Long Beach!"

Barton saw its first separation of the first set, going in front, 10-7, but Princeton rallied with three straight. Neither team led by more two points until a service error gave the Bulldogs a 19-17 advantage. Two errors quickly tied the set again at 19-all. The two teams remained within striking distance before kills by George Huhmann and Andrew put Princeton ahead, 24-22. A service error gave the Tigers the first set.

Three straight points by the Tigers as the second set (7-3) got rolling led to a Barton timeout. This time, the home unit went on a run with 7-of-10 evening the matchup at 10-all. Princeton jumped back ahead, 14-11, highlighted by a block from Huhmann. The Bulldogs didn't go away, retying the set at 16-all. Neither team pulled away until three consecutive tallies gave the Tigers a 24-21 margin. Following a timeout from the Bulldogs, a block by Joe Kelly and Andrew pushed Princeton to a 2-0 set advantage.

In set three, knotted at 10-all, Barton roared off a 10-3 push to take a commanding 20-13 lead and eventually extended the game to a fourth set with a 25-18 decision.

Even at 5-all, the Tigers jumped out with five of the next seven tallies, giving themselves a 10-7 advantage in set four. Princeton held a three-point lead before six-of-seven improved their margin to 19-14, forcing a timeout from Barton. The Tigers never let the Bulldogs get within four the rest of the way while Huhmann's kill wrapped up the program's first ever NCAA Tournament win.

Huhmann had 19 kills to pace the Tigers while Billy Andrew (.625) and Greg Luck (.500) led the way in attack percentage. Joe Kelly had 44 assists in the four-set decision. Angelos Mandilaris had a team-high 17 kills for Barton in the loss.