Men's Volleyball: 5-set road victory highlights strong early play

This was the second time the Tigers have had to go to five sets to decide a match this season, with both marathons resulting in a Princeton victory. It also marked the third win the Tigers have had in their past four games.

“It was huge for us,” freshman outside hitter Cody Kessel said of the win. “There is a lot of parity in our conference, and every win, especially road wins, is big. Our senior setter Scott Liljestrom got hit with gastro at the end of last week, but he came back for the match and made some clutch plays for us in the fifth set.”

Liljestrom was indeed a very instrumental player in getting the win over Rutgers-Newark. The senior had 45 assists in the match and added four blocks, two of which occurred during the decisive fifth set.

Princeton will get its toughest test of the season this coming weekend. The Tigers will go on the road to face Penn State and St. Francis, the first- and second-place teams in the conference, respectively.

“In order to beat Penn State and St. Francis this weekend, I might need to get spring-loaded shoes to increase my vertical,” Liljestrom joked. “But seriously, if we play as good as we are capable of playing, we can beat any team in our league.”

“I think we need to just continue to focus on the everyday activities,” freshman middle blocker Will Siroky added. “As excited as I am to get to play two of the top teams in our conference, I don’t think I’ll do anything differently this week. If we come in to practice everyday focused and work as well as we have been in the past, then we can come out of this weekend 2-0.”

If the Tigers manage wins in both games this weekend, they could take over first place in the EIVA conference. After both games, the Tigers will be glad that their tough eight-game road trip to start the season will finally come to an end, making way for 12 of the Tigers’ last 14 games at Dillon Gymnasium.

“Playing on the road has been a real challenge, but I think it’s been good for our freshmen to get that experience,” sophomore setter Davis Waddell said. “Knowing how to get wins on the road will serve us really well during our upcoming home stand.”

The starting lineup includes two freshmen, who have made a significant impact in their first year of college volleyball.

“It is another level entirely in terms of speed and physicality, of course, but it’s been really fun to play at such a high level all the time,” Kessel said. “Getting to represent Princeton is pretty rad, too.”

“The game is definitely a lot faster, but I’ve had so much help in getting my individual level of play to where it needs to be,” Siroky added. “[Sophomore middle blocker] Ryan Poladian and [sophomore libero] Bar Shabtai are two guys that might not ever get much credit for their stat lines, but they are the best teammates I’ve ever had in the respect that they are always optimistic when I come to the bench and seem to always know what to say.”

The Tigers have had a much better start to the season this year than they did a year ago and are optimistic of their chances looking forward.

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Sam Shweisky, now in his third season as the team’s head coach, is hoping to lead the team down a path more like the one they went down his first year. In 2010, the Tigers reached the EIVA finals, and Shiewsky was named the EIVA Bob Sweeney Coach of the Year award. The team regressed last season, finishing with a 3-19 record.

“Coach has been doing a great job making the whole team mesh and work together,” Siroky said. “We have a sort of odd dynamic with so many inexperienced underclassmen, but Coach Shweisky, along with our senior captains Scott and Dexter, have really done a great job making sure everyone knows and embraces their role. That may be the most influential characteristic of our team.”

“I think the season has gone pretty well so far,” Liljestrom said. “We have a really young team but have shown some real fight in a couple of five-set wins that will keep us confident going forward in the season.”

“The key for us this year is maintaining a balanced offensive attack,” Waddell added. “We have a lot of talented hitters, and, when everyone is involved, we’re a hard team to stop.”

Staying healthy will be important for the Tigers, as constant injuries were among the main reasons they struggled last season.

“We really need to stay healthy,” Liljestrom said. “We have a few guys who are injured or unable to participate in practice so it is a little tough right now, but, if we can manage to stay healthy, then I think we can do some real damage in the league.”