Volleyball lost to Princeton in a tight three sets on Friday before coming back the next day to beat Penn in four sets.
Last week, head coach Trudy Vande Berg said no matter the result against Princeton (12-10, 10-2 Ivy), it was imperative that her team secure a win over Penn (11-10, 5-7 Ivy). While the Red lost to Princeton in three sets, the team delivered on its goal, bouncing back with a determined performance to defeat Penn in four sets and keep sole possession of third place in the Ivy League.
In the match against Princeton, the Red looked fired up to start. Late in the first set, it went on an 8-1 run to take the lead but fell just short as Princeton managed to edge them out in a close finish. In the second, it was a similar story. The Red rallied back to tie the game at 24-24 and then watched it slip away in the closing points.
Both times, Princeton outside hitter Kamryn Chaney came up huge for the Tigers, delivering crucial kills that halted the Red’s momentum and sealed the set for Princeton. Going into the game, Vande Berg had made it a point of emphasis to contain her, but Chaney proved to be an unstoppable force at the net, hitting .395 and racking up 18 kills.
“We were waiting for them to make the mistake or give us a chance instead of making our own opportunity,” Vande Berg said. “When you’re playing a team like Princeton with some great players who can put the ball away like they do, you can’t wait for that. You have to make that opportunity happen. Both the first and second set we had if we would have just stayed aggressive and in that mindset.”
In the Penn game, however, it was freshman middle blocker Mackenzie Parsons’ turn to shine. She hit a staggering .548 en route to an 18-kill performance in the game. In the third set specifically, Parsons had eight kills, including a crucial swing to put the Red up 25-24 in the closing moments of the set.
“[Parsons] came to play,” Vande Berg said. “Part of the scouting report was to go after their middles. Their middles are good, but a little bit smaller, and I knew that we had the physical advantage. We got [Parsons] going, and she did a great job. She came up with a couple of huge blocks at the end of that set, and she just wants to get a kill.”
The Red dropped the first set to Penn before cruising to a win in the second, where it would pull away 25-13. The third set was closer, but Parsons’ clutch performance helped the Red secure victory in the final moments. In the fourth set, the Red continued its momentum, closing out the match with a 25-18 win.
“There was a lot of pressure on the Penn match,” Vande Berg said. “We knew we needed to win in order to put ourselves in a better position to get into that conference tournament. We straight up talked about what we need to do to prepare ourselves mentally to take care of business at a tough place on the road.”
While the Red was able to successfully defend its spot in the Ivy League Tournament this weekend, it will be tested again next weekend by a surging fourth-place Brown (9-13, 6-6 Ivy) and first-place Yale (16-4, 11-1 Ivy). All it takes for the Red to clinch a spot in the Ivy League Tournament is a single win, but that’s much easier said than done. If the Red fail to win a game this weekend, it could still make the tournament so long as Harvard (10-11, 5-7 Ivy) doesn’t win both of its games.
“Brown is a completely different team now than they were when we swept them at their place,” Vande Berg said. “They haven’t changed what they do so much. It’s basically the same players out there, but they’ve just elevated their game and are playing better together. If we beat Brown, we’re in the tournament. ”
Next weekend, the Red will be at home to play Brown at 7 p.m. on Friday and Yale at 6 p.m. on Saturday. Both games can be streamed live on ESPN+.
Dylan Graff is a Sun Contributor and can be reached a [email protected].