M. volleyball plays with West Coast quality, will clash with eastern foe

There are certain events in the athletic world in which it seems only super-humans can compete – the Ironman triathlon, for instance – and there are other sports that are decried for not being demanding enough. But rarely is there a sport so competitively divided between the two extremes as volleyball. More specifically, the difference in quality of play on opposite coasts.

Even when I was a freshman in high school (when I was an athlete – or actually moved with lightning speed for reasons other than getting my $4.50 in late-meal credit before the Student Center closed), I knew how the world was set up.

Being a volleyball player, I was up against two things: the little respect that many people accord the sport in general, and the little respect those who know the game give to East Coast volleyball.

I've always found the first point insulting because I don't think it's true, and it takes away from that group of hardworking individuals. It is the second point that I find interesting.

There is no doubt that the quality of volleyball on the West Coast is, in general, on a different level than volleyball played in most other places in the United States.

Currently, the vast majority of the USA Today/AVCA Coaches Top 15 poll is composed of teams of California. And in all the NCAA men's volleyball championships since 1970, only one winner has been from the east – Penn State in 1994. In the 28-year history of the tournament, only two second-place finishers have been from the Atlantic region – Penn State again, in 1982 and 1995.

The reason for the east-west difference? It's probably related to the weather and has to do with year-round practice time or something – but that's not my point.

So what is my point?

Despite everything said above, Princeton's men's volleyball team (on which half of the players, admittedly, come from California) competes on a level that could put a scare into the top teams in the nation, as it did at times on its Intersession trip this year.

Princeton fell just shy of making the USA Today/AVCA Top 15 in the most recent poll, and has been near the top of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association for years – including when it was "just" a club varsity team.

And this afternoon, men's volleyball has an exciting but major task in front of it.

At 5 p.m. today, the third-seeded Tigers face tournament-No. 2 and national No. 10 Penn State in an EIVA semifinal playoff match at Rutgers-Newark, where some of the best East Coast volleyball – volleyball, period – will likely be played.

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

And there is a lot riding on the game. Besides the obvious – continuing in the tournament and perhaps getting to the NCAA Final Four held in Hawaii – Princeton gets a chance to bounce the team that has won the last seven EIVA titles and has prevented the Tigers from having a chance to vie for the national championship in recent years.

Princeton, which played inconsistently throughout much of the regular season, has the ability to beat its toughest opponent. The Nittany Lions already got a taste of what the Tigers are capable of when Princeton soundly beat them in straight games March 27.

Watch balls being killed at enormous speed, others somehow being dug right before they hit the ground. See amazing jumpserves where the bottom drops out right after it crosses the net. And don't forget the tricky dink that tests an individual's speed.

They may be playing on the East Coast tonight, but you won't be watching East Coast volleyball.