Men’s volleyball rallies against Jersey rivals NJIT on senior night

During the seniors’ final home game at Dillon Gymnasium, men’s volleyball (13–11, 7–3 EIVA) closed out a hard-fought four-setter against the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Highlanders (8–17, 2–8). Senior outside hitters Brady Wedbush and Nate Thompson led the team with 15 and 10 kills respectively, while Wedbush also led the night in aces with six.

The first set established high tensions for the night, with both teams fighting until the end. As the Tigers received, senior outside hitter Alexander Mrkalj put down a speedy spike to get the Tigers on serve, where Wedbush began his ace campaign with his first ace of the night.

The scoreboard remained close throughout the majority of the set, with multiple service errors on both sides granting free points to each team. During one of the most exhilarating points of the night at a 8–8 tie, Mrkalj saved the rally three times, eventually giving Wedbush the opportunity to take the kill for the Tigers. Senior outside hitter Nate Thompson also entertained the crowd with back-to-back kills off of the Highlanders’ service digs to bring the Tigers up 13–10 as NJIT called a timeout.

With an ace by Wedbush directly after the timeout, along with blocks by sophomore right-side hitter Nyherowo Omene, the Tigers established a four-point lead, 18–14. Yet, NJIT would not give up as the Highlanders managed to get within one of the tigers, 19–18. A point-by-point battle ensued, with neither team able to close out the set. It took two timeouts called by Princeton’s head coach, Sam Shweisky, and three kills by Thompson at the end of the set for the Tigers to finally clinch it 30–28.

The second set, despite initially seeming to be another point-by-point effort, ended with a shift in momentum in favor of the Highlanders, who flew to an early 8–4 lead.

However, the Tigers ramped up their offense to gain a few kills, eventually catching up to the Highlanders at 16–16. Despite their comeback, the Highlanders finished the Tigers off with their own offensive barrage, taking the set 25–22.

The next set started the same way the last one did, with an early Highlander lead (4–1) followed by a Princeton comeback (4–4) due to errors by NJIT. The Tigers refused to succumb to the Highlanders in this set, though, as first-year middle blocker Ryan Vena put down multiple kills alongside an ace by junior outside hitter Ben Harrington to give Princeton the first lead of the set.

As the Tigers regained momentum, it was Vena and Harrington who shared the spotlight. Seven of the following eight points that Princeton won were because of Vena and Harrington’s attacks, which, despite the Highlanders’ equally aggressive front, gave Princeton a small lead at 21–19. Though NJIT managed to tie the set at 22–22, a service error from the Highlanders, followed by an ace from Wedbush and a kill from Harrington, gave Princeton the set to lead at 2–1.

In the fourth set, NJIT fell to an array of service and attack errors early on, giving the Tigers a head start at 5–2. The mistakes for the Highlanders continued, pushing Princeton to an 11–5 lead in the set. For the rest of the set, Harrington would lead the Tigers to victory, cranking out four kills and an ace out of the last 10 points. The Highlanders committed one last service error to seal the set and the win for the Tigers at 25–21.

Following the strong win on Senior Night, Mrkalj told The Daily Princetonian how important this game was to him.

“[This was] the most emotionally charged game of volleyball I’ve ever played,” Mrkalj explained. “Not only was it my last game in Dillon, which made it very emotional for me, but I was surrounded by my best friends, friends that I’ve spent the last four years with.”

The men’s volleyball team will travel to Pennsylvania this week to the semi-finals of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) Championships as the second seed behind Penn State, playing either Charleston or NJIT again.