Women's Volleyball to Face Harvard & Dartmouth

Friday, October 6

Cambridge, Mass.

7:00 PM

Princeton University

Harvard

October 04, 2023 | Women's Volleyball

Match 13: Princeton (6-6, 3-1) vs. Harvard (9-3, 2-1), 10/6 – 7 p.m. ET
Match 14: Princeton (6-6, 3-1) vs. Dartmouth (5-7, 2-1), 10/7 – 5 p.m. ET
Harvard: ESPN+ | International Feed | Live Stats
Dartmouth: ESPN+ | International Feed | Live Stats

PRINCETON, N.J. – Ivy League play continues for the Princeton University women's volleyball team when it hits the road to face Harvard Friday in Cambridge, Massachusetts, then Dartmouth Saturday in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Last Time Out
The Tigers split their two most recent matches, defeating Brown 3-1 (25-21, 25-19, 16-25, 25-20) in on Sept. 29 Providence, Rhode Island, before suffering a 3-1 (25-16, 25-18, 21-25, 25-13) setback to Yale on Sept. 30 in New Haven, Connecticut.

Ivy Standings
With a 3-1 record in Ivy play, the Tigers sit in second behind Yale who are first with a 3-0 record. Harvard, Dartmouth and Cornell each have records of 2-1.

Statistical Leaders
Freshman Kamryn Chaney leads Princeton and ranks fourth in the Ivy League in kills per set (3.16) while freshman Sydney Draper leads both the team and the conference in assists per set (10.51), a number that also ranks No. 29 nationally.

Sophomore Lucia Scalamandre leads the Tigers, ranks second in the Ivy League and 12th in the nation with a .438 hitting percentage, and averages 1.11 blocks per set which leads the team and ranks eighth in the conference. Scalamandre's 2.87 kills per set are also second on the team and seventh in the Ivy League,

Sophomore Ella Bunde's 15 service aces leads the team and ranks fourth in the Ivy League, and freshman Sydney Bold is averaging 4.06 digs per set to lead the team and rank third in the conference.

Award Winners
Draper has garnered three awards in her short Princeton career, being named Ivy League Rookie of the Week on Sept. 4 and Sept. 24, and to the All-Tournament Team at the Bucknell Invitational on Sept. 2. Scalamandre was also an All-Tournament Team honoree at the Bucknell Invitational.

The Pursuit of Ivy Title No. 20
The Tigers aim to continue its tradition of success in 2023 and capture a 20th Ivy League Championship. A conference championship in 2023 would also be the Tigers' second-straight and third in the past four seasons. Princeton's 19 Ivy titles are the most by any team in the conference, with Yale's 12 coming in second.

Scouting The Crimson
Harvard has a 9-3 record on the season and is 2-1 in Ivy play. Most recently, the Crimson fell, 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 27-25) to Cornell in Ithaca, New York, on Sept. 30.

Scouting The Big Green
Dartmouth has a 5-7 overall record and a 2-1 record in Ivy play. The Big Green is coming off a 3-2 (22-25, 25-14, 18-25, 25-19, 15-6) triumph over Columbia on Sept. 30 inside Levien Gymnasium. Prior to its matchup with Princeton, the Big Green will host the University of Pennsylvania at 7 p.m. on Oct. 6.

Head Coach Sabrina King
A three-time Ivy Coach of the Year (2019, 2016, 2015), King has guided Princeton to five Ivy titles (2022, 2019, 2017, 2016, 2015). King has also coached four Ivy Players of the Year and spent seven seasons as an assistant coach, winning conference championships in 2007 and 2004. As a player, King won three Ivy titles, was named All-Ivy League on three occasions and was the 1999 Ivy Player of the Year.

The Returning Ivy Rookie of the Year
Scalamandre, the 2022 Ivy Rookie of the Year, will look to build off a dominant freshman campaign. Also named ECAC Rookie of the Year and First Team All-Ivy, Scalamandre was a seven-time Ivy Rookie of the Week in 2022. She led the Ivy League in total blocks (104), a number that also ranked third all-time in program history for most blocks in a season. Scalamandre ranked first in the Ivy League, 39th in the nation in blocks per set (1.27) and had 10 matches with at least five blocks. In addition, Scalamandre ranked third on the team in points (266) and points per set (3.24).

A Summer of Service
Erin McNair spent two weeks in Kenya over the summer with HEART (Health Education Africa Resource Team), a faith-based humanitarian organization that focuses on empowering vulnerable women, children, and youth in Africa to thrive beyond HIV. The WEEP mother's (Women's Equality Empowerment Program) is one of the many programs that HEART has in which they provide single, vulnerable mother with skills and resources to overcome their current situations to provide for them kids and themselves. The experience was so impactful for McNair that she has decided to take Swahili at Princeton to further pursue the culture in hopes of returning in the future.

Summer Standouts
McNair wasn't the only Tiger to have a busy summer. Kathleen Bishop worked at the German Aerospace Center, Ella Bunde studied abroad at the London School of Economics, Gracie Wood was a Clinical Science Intern at the Topcon Healthcare Innovation Center (THINC) division with Topcon Healthcare, Mariah Haislip was a Summer Fellow with J.P. Morgan Asset & Wealth Management – U.S. Private Bank, Shelby Fulton took an online course on machine learning and did personal coding projects, Valerie Nutakor worked as a patient safety assistant at a hospital while obtaining an EMT certification and Julia Cabri was an intern with Exabeam, a cyber security company in the Bay Area.