No. 13 Princeton Ready To Continue Magical Run With NCAA Quarterfinal Matchup vs. No. 3 Pepperdine

Tuesday, April 30

Long Beach, Calif.

10:30 PM EST

Princeton University

Pepperdine

Buy Tickets

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

No. 13 Princeton Ready To Continue Magical Run With NCAA Quarterfinal Matchup vs. No. 3 Pepperdine

April 28, 2019 | Men's Volleyball

First EIVA Regular Season Title - Check

First time ever hosting the EIVA Championships - Check

First NCAA Tournament Victory - Check

The magical 2019 season continues for the No. 13 Princeton Tigers on Tuesday at they seek a berth in the NCAA Semifinals.

NCAA Quarterfinals: No. 3 Pepperdine Wave
Game Times	Tuesday, Apr. 30 - 10:30 p.m. EST l Walter Pyramid
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| Video
Twitter	@PUTigers l @PepperdineWaves
All-Time Series	Pepperdine leads the all-time series, 6-0
Last Meeting	Dec. 30, 2018 – No. 6 Pepperdine 3, Princeton 1 (Recap)
Princeton	Roster l Schedule l Stats l @PrincetonVolley
Pepperdine	Roster \| Schedule \| Stats \| @PeppVolleyball
Related Links	Five Named All-EIVA Princeton Moves Into AVCA Coaches' Poll

NCAA Tournament Info

The No. 13 Princeton Tigers battle the No. 3 Pepperdine Waves on Tuesday (Apr. 30) at the Walter Pyramid at 10:30 p.m.
The winner of that game takes on the host No. 2 Long Beach State on May 2nd at 10:30 p.m.
No. 4 USC and No. 6 Lewis are in the other NCAA Quarterfinal with that winner taking on No. 1 Hawaii.
The National Championship Game is on May 4 at 8 p.m.
The Tigers' only other trip to the NCAA Tournament was following their 1998 EIVA title as they fell in the national semifinal to Pepperdine (3-0). Highlights from 1998 NCAA Semifinal loss to Pepperdine can be found here.

How Did We Get Here?

Princeton took home its first ever NCAA Tournament victory with a 3-1 takedown of the Wilson Bulldogs last Thursday.
After George Huhmann swung his arm and produced the final kill of the EIVA Championship thriller, Dillon Gym went into a whirlwind, celebrating something done just once in program history … an EIVA Championship.
The victory over Penn State (Apr. 20) was the second conference title in program history (1998).
The last time Princeton won the EIVA Championship before this season, Sam Shweisky was a freshman at Vassar College and 11 players on the current roster weren't even born.
Princeton earned the right to host the EIVA Championships for the first time, finishing with a 13-1 conference mark in the regular season.
The Tigers avenged its only conference loss (Saint Francis) with a 3-0 takedown of the Red Flashes in the EIVA Semifinals.
In the final, Huhmann finished with 25 kills and a .426 attack percentage while Parker Dixon produced 15 kills and a .489 attack percentage. Joe Kelly had 51 assists in the victory. All three were named to the All-Tournament squad.
Huhmann earned the tournament's Most Valuable Player award.

Among The Best

It was announced last week that Princeton was in the AVCA Coaches' Poll for the first time since Feb. of 2015.
The Tigers came in tied at the No. 13 position. Barton was receiving votes in the poll.
This is only the second time since 1998 that Princeton has been ranked in the top-15 poll and 15th time overall (records date back to 1986). The No. 13 ranking isn't far removed from Princeton's best-ever national rank; following the 1998 EIVA championship run over both Penn State and Rutgers-Newark, the Tigers reached No. 11 in back-to-back polls.

About Princeton

The Tigers started the season 0-5, but played four nationally ranked foes. The Tigers took one match in California over UC-San Diego before a six-game winning streak to open EIVA action. During that stretch, Shweisky's group dropped just four sets.
Princeton made the trip to Utah which featured a five-set heartbreaking loss to No. 8 BYU.
Shweisky's squad wrapped up the regular season with five straight wins, clinching home court advantage in the EIVA Tournament with a 3-1 decision over Saint Francis.
Princeton's 18 wins are the most in Shweisky's tenure and the second most in program history.

EIVA All-Conference

Off the banner regular season, Princeton was honored with five All-EIVA members and the Coach of the Year accolade.
Huhmann became the first Princeton player ever to be named the Uvaldo Acosta Memorial EIVA Player of the Year while Shweisky was picked as Bob Sweeney EIVA Coach of the Year for the second time (2010).
Joining Huhmann on the All-EIVA first team was Dixon. Greg Luck, Kendall Ratter and Kelly earned second nominations.

About Pepperdine

Pepperdine is 22-6 this season and reached the NCAA Tournament after winning the MPSF Final. This is the program's 16th NCAA Tournament appearance, but its first since 2008. The Waves have won five national championships, second in NCAA history behind UCLA.
David Wieczorek repeated as MPSF Player of the Year, highlighting the league's postseason awards. He is the fourth MPSF player to repeat as the award-winner, and the second Wave. Other all-conference members for Pepperdine include Michael Wexter (first-team), Kaleb Denmark (second-team) and Robert Mullahey (honorable mention). David Hunt was honored as the conference's Coach of the Year.
The Waves defeated Princeton in the season-opener for both teams, 3-1. Parker Dixon led the Tigers with 10 kills in the loss.