No. 13 Princeton Falls In Five-Set Heartbreaker to No. 3 Pepperdine in NCAA Quarterfinal

Tuesday, April 30

Long Beach, Calif.

10:30 PM EST

Princeton University

18-13

Pepperdine

23-6

Princeton

Pepperdine

Photo by: Virginia Pham

No. 13 Princeton Falls In Five-Set Heartbreaker to No. 3 Pepperdine in NCAA Quarterfinal

May 01, 2019 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

LONG BEACH, Calif. – The No. 13 Princeton Tigers gave the No. 3 Pepperdine Waves all they could handle in a five-set thriller, but Pepperdine advanced to the NCAA Semifinals (25-23, 19-25, 25-16, 22-25, 15-8) with a 3-2 decision at the Walter Pyramid on Tuesday night.

With the win, Pepperdine will take on No. 2 Long Beach State on Thursday (May 2). No. 6 Lewis and No. 1 Hawaii participate in the other national semifinal.

Princeton scored the first three points to open the game. The Tigers led, 10-7, before Pepperdine tied the contest at 10-all and eventually took their first lead, 14-13. At 15-all, the Waves registered three consecutive tallies, forcing a timeout from Princeton. Trailing by five, the Tigers put up a 3-0 push, setting the score at 23-21. The Tigers fought off two set points before the Waves earned a 25-23 win.

Matched up at 5-all, the Tigers ran off five of six, sprinting ahead, 10-6. The Tigers led by as many as five, 16-11, as the second set continued. The Waves cut their deficit to three on several occasions, but Princeton won set two, 25-19. The loss ended Pepperdine's streak of 18 consecutive sets won. Princeton had just one error and recorded a .560 hitting percentage in the victory.

The Tigers started off with the early command in set three (6-3). Behind by two, the Waves secured four straight points to go on top, 9-7. Princeton got as close as one, but five of six from Pepperdine extended the score to 17-12, making the Tigers call for a stoppage. Princeton would not get within four the rest of the way and fell in set three, 25-16.

The fourth set was a thriller as neither team led by more than two halfway through the scoring (12-12). An attack error gave the Tigers a 16-13 margin following the media timeout. Back-to-back kills by Kendall Ratter drove Pepperdine to a stop (19-15). The No. 3 nationally ranked squad quickly countered with three points making the contest 19-18. Both teams went point for point before a service error gave the Tigers a 23-21 lead. Joe Kelly followed with a service ace before Parker Dixon's kill extended the NCAA Quarterfinal to a fifth set.

After the Tigers scored the first point of the final frame, Pepperdine snagged four straight. A kill from George Huhmann briefly stopped momentum as the Waves added four more points to take an 8-2 advantage. The Waves would keep the Tigers at bay and finish off the set, 15-8.

Ratter led all players with 23 kills while Dixon (11) and Huhmann (10) contributed double-digit kills. Kelly had 44 assists in the loss.

Princeton finishes the season at 18-13 overall. The Tigers' 18 wins are the most in Sam Shweisky's tenure and the second most in program history. They won their second ever EIVA Championship and the first since 1998.