Men's Volleyball: Kessel earns honors entering key weekend

Princeton quickly fell behind 2-0, though, unable to contain the Eagles’ hitters and maintain an early lead. Juniata’s Brian Jaron consistently found holes in the Tigers’ defense, propelling the Eagles with 23 kills and hitting at .283 percent.

But freshman outside hitter Cody Kessel recorded a career-best 31 kills to lead the Tigers to a 3-2 comeback, ending the thriller in a 23-25, 26-28, 25-20, 25-23, 15-11 victory for Princeton (7-7 overall, 5-5 EIVA). And, although the match was not a conference game, the EIVA nevertheless awarded Kessel the EIVA Offensive Player of the Week for his performance, which included six blocks and an impressive .429 hitting percentage. Kessel now stands in second in the EIVA for kills per set with 3.91.

“[Kessel] played fantastically,” fellow freshman Will Siroky said.

Siroky himself contributed a season-best 11 blocks in addition to seven kills and holds fifth place in blocks per set in the EIVA with 1.09. Classmate and libero Tony Ensbury rounded out the success of the starting freshman trio with a team best 12 digs.

Meanwhile, junior middle blocker Michael Dye added three blocks to the defensive effort as well as 11 kills, including an important tiebreaker.

“At 23-23 in the fourth set, [Dye] had a big kill off a defender,” Kessel said. “After that we all felt the match was going to go our way. It got us really fired up, and we carried that momentum into the fifth set.”

Senior co-captain and libero Dexter Scobee had a game-changing play as well, making a fifth-set dig that allowed Princeton to eventually clinch the victory. Fellow co-captain and setter Scott Liljestrom recorded 55 assists to drive Princeton’s offensive game.

Sophomore outside hitters Davis Waddell and Jeff Stapleton continued their consistently successful performances, contributing nine and six kills respectively, with Waddell also adding five blocks.

Having ended their three-game losing streak, the Tigers will face EIVA leader Penn State and fourth-ranked St. Francis this weekend. The EIVA only takes the top four teams into the playoffs, meaning the fifth-place Tigers cannot afford a loss.

The match against the Nittany Lions (16-3, 9-0) on Saturday is a particularly challenging one. Penn State, ranked eighth in the nation and undefeated in league play, dropped Princeton 25-18, 25-15, 25-18 in a Feb. 24 game.

The Nittany Lions are almost certain to win the EIVA title, but if Princeton can capitalize on early leads, the Tigers may have a legitimate chance at taking the game.

Even more important is Friday’s match against St. Francis (10-12, 5-4). Its recent loss to NJIT puts the Red Flash only half a game ahead of Princeton, meaning a Tiger win on Saturday would push Princeton up to fourth place and into playoff position.

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The Tigers will head into the weekend’s games using the confidence from their win over Juniata and their renewed energy from spring break.

“Coach gave us a couple days off over break, which I think was more beneficial than the days we trained. It was sort of like a time-out to our season to clear our heads and get ready to make a big push down the stretch,” Siroky said. “We all feel good physically and mentally, and we’re ready to peak at the right time.”

As league play comes to a close, Princeton will host all but one of its remaining matches at Dillon Gymnasium, creating an important home-court advantage that it lacked throughout the first half of the season.

The Tigers, however, will need to play without sophomore middle blocker Brad Howard, who is out for the remainder of the year after having surgery on his foot.