Princeton University Athletics
Wednesday TigerBlog - The Marriott Seven
April 22, 2026 | Tiger Blog
TigerBlog mentioned yesterday that he stayed in two Marriotts over the weekend.
The second one was in Providence, where he stayed Saturday night in advance of the women's tennis team's Ivy League clinching win at Brown Sunday.
It was in the lobby of that hotel where TB encountered something new. There was the typical small lobby convenience area, where you could get drinks, snacks, ice cream, toiletries, etc. You've seen this hundreds of times.
TB spotted A&W cream soda, which seemed fairly appealing. Then he saw something completely different. Instead of simply taking the bottle up to the front desk, this was now automated. He had to tap his credit card, and his selection would be processed when he opened the refrigerator door.
And there was the holdup. No matter what he tried, he couldn't figure out how to open the door. And there was the soda, just staring at him. Eventually, he had to go over to the front desk and ask what he was doing wrong.
Turns out, he had to push a button on the display after he tapped his card. The young man who helped him said that nobody gets it right on the first try and that the button should be clearer.
Either way, the cream soda rocked.
The night before he was in the Newton Marriott, where the Princeton men's lacrosse team stayed before its 15-14 win over Harvard. This is not to be confused with the hotel over the Mass Pike where Princeton teams have also stayed many times and which has changed names about 10 times.
Were the Tigers the only team in the hotel that night? Yeah, no.
In fact, those Tigers weren't the only Tigers there. The men's volleyball team was as well.
In all, TB counted seven teams. In addition to the two Princeton teams, there was:
* Lafayette men's lacrosse (at Boston University)
* Duke baseball (at Boston College)
* Washington U baseball (at Brandeis)
* Columbia women's tennis (at Harvard)
* Penn softball (at Harvard)
The Marriott Seven.
The men's volleyball team swept Harvard, vaulting the Tigers over the Crimson and into the EIVA tournament, which begins today against with a quarterfinal against George Mason at Penn State. That match begins at 4:30, followed by a match between Sacred Heart and Charleston.
Second-seed NJIT will play the Princeton-George Mason winner tomorrow at 4:30, followed by top seed Penn State against the SHU/Charleston winner. The final will be Friday at 7.
Back at the hotel, how'd everyone else do?
Lafayette lost big at BU, 13-2. Duke was swept by BC, who turns out to be a Top 25 team. Wash U. lost two of three against Brandeis. Columbia women's tennis lost to Harvard.
And then there's Penn softball.
The Quakers were swept by Harvard Saturday and then won the third game Sunday. That makes the non-Princeton teams in the Marriott 8 2-9.
Princeton's perfect run through the Ivy League ended Sunday with a loss to Yale. It happens in baseball and softball. Remember a week ago when there were three Division I teams unbeaten in their conference?
Now there are none — Princeton lost once, Washington lost three times and even Southeastern Louisiana lost twice. Incredibly, there is one Division I baseball team who is unbeaten in its league. Any guesses?
Princeton is still 14-1 in Ivy softball, which leaves a four-game edge over Harvard with six games to go. For Princeton and Harvard, those next three games are against each other, this coming Saturday and Sunday in Cambridge.
Obviously Princeton is in the driver's seat. Even one win in the series would clinch no worse than a tie for the league championship for the Tigers.
Beyond this weekend, you have Princeton at Dartmouth for three and Harvard at Columbia for three. Columbia is currently in third place at 9-6, followed by Penn at 7-8 and Brown at 6-8. That win Penn picked up Sunday at Harvard was a huge one.
The top four teams will reach the Ivy League tournament, which will determine who wins the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Princeton is the only team that has hosted the tournament since its inauguration two years ago.
Oh, and the undefeated-in-conference baseball team? That would be UCLA in the Big Ten.
