Volleyball defeated by Princeton again

With four-game win, theWith four-game win, theTigers maintain two-yearWith four-game win, theTigers maintain two-yearwinning streak vs. Penn PRINCETON, N.J. -- Some losses are just harder to take than others -- when playing a long-time rival, when repeatedly and inexplicably makes mistakes that have never been a problem before or when the officiating makes sense only to the other team. Unfortunately for the Penn volleyball team, all of these things happened in the Quakers' loss to Princeton on Wednesday night. The Tigers (7-8, 3-2 Ivy League) preserved their two-year unbeaten streak against the Quakers (10-8, 2-3) with a hard-fought four-game win, 8-15, 15-11, 15-2, 15-12. Princeton's game was characterized by a sometimes sloppy, but nevertheless effective, combination of speed and power. Tigers coach Glenn Nelson was never given a reason to substitute a player -- six players played every minute of the match. Princeton's game is founded on hard and aggressive hitting, and, on Wednesday night, every Tigers hitter registered at least one monster kill. Princeton setter Melissa Ford made the offense click by distributing the ball unpredictably and evenly to her hitters. The Penn blockers often had little time to react and frequently found themselves in the wrong place as one of the Princeton players was taking a swing. The Tigers hitters pummeled the ball through the single blocks and occasionally even found themselves with nobody separating the ball from the floor. When Penn did get a hand or two up, it often did more harm then good, as the Quakers committed 17 blocking errors. While Princeton's offensive display was somewhat predictable, it could not have won the game without a solid defensive effort, of which every Tiger was a part. Princeton out-dug Penn by a margin of 55 to 24. Things did not start out badly for the Quakers. In the first game, Penn rushed out to a 6-0 lead with a balanced attack. Penn outside hitter Jessica Luftman demonstrated her own offensive firepower with a series of big kills, including two to finish off the game. The Tigers didn't seem ready to meet Penn's challenge. When they did manage to get something going, they tended to follow it up by hitting the ball into the net or out of bounds. Given the abysmal fan turnout, Princeton's home court advantage didn't seem to bother the Quakers initially. But what did bother Penn were questionable line calls that went against the Quakers that appeared to be misjudged by the officials. In game two, the Tigers continued their sloppy play with a sequence of service errors. But Penn started making mistakes as well, particularly in receiving the fraction of Princeton's serves that managed to make it over the net. While the Tigers managed to clean up their act halfway through the second game, the Quakers did not and suffered through the last three games of the match. In game four, Penn managed to build up a 9-3 lead, but Penn errors of all varieties allowed the Tigers back in the match, which they took, 15-12. The Quakers will be looking for redemption this weekend at the Marist Invitational in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where they will face Marist (8-9) this afternoon. Tomorrow, Penn will try to avenge this season's earlier loss to Navy (8-13), in addition to playing a rematch against Marist. While no victory this weekend could be as sweet as the one that evaded them in Princeton, a win might at least ease the pain.