Men's Volleyball vs. Ranked Teams
Since 1997, Princeton has won 19 matches against teams ranked in the AVCA Top 15. Five times, Princeton has won multiple matches against Top-15 teams; the 1998 EIVA championship team defeated three nationally ranked opponents en route to the NCAA Championships, while the 2013 team won two matches against Top 15 teams. The EIVA Tigers of 2022 had the highest-ranked win in program history, defeating #2 Penn State at Penn State in the EIVA Tournament semifinals. In 2020 and 2019 Princeton also defeated a pair of top-15 opponents, including the Tigers first win over #8 UCLA in program history. The 2018 team had the two previously highest-ranked wins in program history, including an early-season win over #8 Stanford. The Tigers later topped #10 Penn State 3-2 in Dillon Gym after saving eight match balls in a five-set thriller during a night where Princeton unveiled the 1998 EIVA Championship banner.
Prior to 2018, the highest-ranked teams that Princeton has defeated had been No. 10 Penn State — Princeton ended a 35-match losing streak to the Nittany Lions in 2014 — as well as No. 11 Penn State in the 1998 EIVA semifinal (3-1 on April 16, 1998), and No. 11 George Mason (3-1 on March 1, 2008).
Princeton has reached as high as No. 10 in the national rankings, which it received in the 2020 AVCA Preseason Poll. It's second-highest was No. 11, a spot it held during the 1998 season. The Tigers, coming off an EIVA championship, ended that year with a No. 12 national ranking, the best postseason rank ever for Princeton men's volleyball.
Princeton was the top team among others receiving votes during the 2013 season, and it entered the 2014 season as the second team among others receiving votes. You can see all former AVCA national polls here.
Below are Princeton's victories over nationally ranked programs since it first earned full varsity status.
Date | Opponent | Rank | Final Score |
3/27/98 | PENN STATE | 13 | 3-0 |
4/16/98 | v. Penn State# | 11 | 3-0 |
4/18/98 | at Rutgers-Newark! | 14 | 3-0 |
3/6/05 | GEORGE MASON | 13 | 3-2 |
2/10/07 | at Saint Francis | 15 | 3-1 |
3/1/08 | GEORGE MASON | 11 | 3-1 |
1/29/13 | at UC-Santa Barbara | 12 | 3-1 |
3/2/13 | HARVARD | 14 | 3-1 |
2/28/14 | PENN STATE | 10 | 3-2 |
1/10/15 | Cal-State Northridge | 13 | 3-2 |
2/13/15 | HARVARD | 13 | 3-1 |
1/6/18 | Stanford | 8 | 3-2 |
3/3/18 | Penn State | 10 | 3-2 |
2/16/19 | George Mason | 12 | 3-1 |
3/29/19 | at George Mason | 14 | 3-1 |
1/30/20 | at UCLA | 8 | 3-1 |
2/22/20 | at George Mason | 15 | 3-1 |
3/26/22 | NJIT | 15 | 3-1 |
5/21/22 | at Penn State | 2 | 3-2 |
3/25/23 | at Loyola Chicago | 9 | 3-1 |
4/7/23 | at Charleston | 14 | 3-0 |
4/8/23 | at Charleston | 14 | 3-1 |
1/16/24 | at UC San Diego | 17 | 3-0 |
1/19/24 | at CSUN | 18 | 3-2 |
1/31/24 | UC Santa Barbara | 12 | 3-1 |
2/2/24 | Pepperdine | 10 | 3-0 |
3/1/24 | George Mason | 17 | 3-0 |
# — in 1998 EIVA semifinal at Rutgers-Newark
! — in 1998 EIVA championship at Rutgers-Newark
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