Volleyball drops one to Princeton

Clinging to a 14-12 lead in the fifth and deciding game, just one point away from victory, the Penn volleyball team thought it had locked up one of the most amazing comebacks in recent memory.

But the Quakers lost their composure, committing four straight errors and dropping a 3-2 decision to Princeton before a stunned crowd at the Palestra last night.

"The team that does the least to destroy their own momentum wins," Princeton coach Glenn Nelson said. "They had the momentum, and they just did a little more to destroy it than we did. And that was ultimately the difference in a close match like that."

Penn (16-5, 10-2 Ivy League) saw its eight-match winning streak come to an end, as it blew an opportunity to clinch at least a share of the Ivy League title in the Quakers' last home match of the season.

Princeton also kept alive its slim hopes for a third-straight Ivy League title with the 30-28, 30-27, 21-30, 19-30, 16-14 victory.

The night started off poorly for the Quakers, as they dropped the first two games to Princeton (14-8, 8-4) after opening up leads of four and six points on the Tigers, respectively.

"We were just nervous when we came out here," Penn junior right-side hitter Stacey Carter said. "We were really tight the whole time we were playing. We weren't relaxed and we weren't having fun out there. I think our emotions just got the best of us."

The Quakers had an incredibly tough time passing Princeton's serves throughout the match, and gave up an uncharacteristic 10 aces to the Tigers.

"We were really tense, and that came out in our passing," Penn coach Kerry Major said. "We were just excited, so things were just bouncing off our arms and we weren't really calm and talking to each other."

Heading into the locker room down 2-0 in front of a noisy band and their largest crowd at the Palestra this season, the Quakers knew they needed to make some adjustments.

"I told my team, 'When we leave this gym, win or lose, I want to leave with smiles on our faces, knowing that we played really hard,'" Major said after the match. "We were basically playing not to lose, and that's really different than the way we've played all season, which is to have fun and enjoy the moment."

After a somewhat sluggish start in the third game, the Quakers heeded Major's request, running 10 straight points at the end of the game to win, 30-21.

Penn rode that momentum into the fourth game, which it won easily, 30-19.

In the fifth game, Princeton errors allowed Penn to jump out to an early three-point lead that would be maintained up until 12-9.

Penn was called for a carrying violation, which was followed by a kill by Princeton setter Ana Yeorg. Tigers outside hitter Kellie Cramm completed the three-point run with a kill from the outside to tie it up at 12.

Major called a timeout, and her team earned two quick points as Princeton was called for a net violation and Cramm was stuffed by Carter and Penn freshman middle hitter Natalie Francis.

Then things fell apart for Penn after Nelson called a timeout.

The Tigers maintained their composure despite the traditional chants of "Princeton, you suck" from the crowd, fought off a couple of match points and upset the first-place Quakers, 16-14.

"They just made a couple of errors down the stretch," Nelson said. "To their credit, they came back from being down 2-0 and had the lead in the fifth game. They just happen to let it slip away."

Penn maintains a one-game lead over second-place Brown in the Ancient Eight standings heading into the final weekend of Ivy play.

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