While most students were recently on spring break, the No. 19 Princeton men’s volleyball team (6–9 overall, 3–1 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) embarked on a trip of their own across the country.
In an exciting three-game week against some of the nation’s strongest, the Tigers played at No. 13 UC San Diego (16–4 overall, 2–0 Big West), No. 7 CSUN (14–4 overall, 0–2 Big West), and No. 1 Long Beach State (18–0 overall, 2–0 Big West).
“I just want to thank all the California families who hosted us while we were out there,” head coach Sam Shweisky told The Daily Princetonian. “A lot of our team is from southern California, so to be able to go back there and spend time with them is really tremendous.”
The Tigers lost all three matches, but the experience playing against some of the biggest names in the sport provided crucial insight for the rest of their conference play.
Similar to sports like water polo, men’s volleyball has historically been dominated by the Golden State. One California school has been featured in the NCAA final 49 out of 55 times, while the only East Coast school to have won a national championship is EIVA rivals No. 20 Penn State in 1994 and 2008.
“Those are really-high level teams, and they get to play the best,” said Shweisky. “I think we learned a lot about ourselves, and we got a chance to play at the highest level, so it was a fantastic opportunity.”
Out-blocking the San Diego Tritons
The Tigers looked to set the tone early against the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Tritons on Monday. Despite dominating the first set and controlling much of the second, the Tigers lost 3–1 (25–19, 23–25, 14–25, 19–25) in a game marked by strong defense.
Princeton led the blocking statline 16–12, and senior setter Henry Wedbush recorded his season-high four blocks. On the offensive end, first-year pin hitter Mason Rice recorded a career-high and game-high 18 kills.
“I can’t say enough positive things about Mason Rice’s development,” Shweisky commented. “He’s just been on such an incredibly steep improvement road, really since he got here.”
Senior pin hitter Nyherowo Omene, eighth in the nation in kills per set, powered the Princeton attack to a 12–8 lead in the first set. A successful joust at the center from sophomore middle blocker Tristan Whitfield further propelled their momentum.
Capitalizing on the Tritons’ attack and service errors, consecutive kills from junior middle blocker Ryan Vena helped deliver Princeton the first set 25–19. San Diego had a negative hitting percentage in this set (-0.118).
Omene struck first once again in the second set, but the Tritons responded quickly, tying it 7–7 after various Princeton attack errors.
The Tigers bounced back with a 4–0 run, fueled by two Omene kills, for an 11–7 advantage. The Tigers held this lead until 18–15, but a kill from San Diego’s Josh Schellinger gave the second set 25–23 to the Tritons after a tight battle.
In the third set, Princeton’s offense struggled, more than halving their hitting percentage from the first set (0.412 to 0.182). The Tritons’ consistently strong blocking limited Princeton’s attack in a decisive 25–14 third-set San Diego victory.
Princeton fought hard to keep up in the fourth set with six kills from Rice, but San Diego continued to capitalize on Princeton’s errors. Princeton struggled to generate sustained runs, and San Diego closed out the match in the fourth set with a 25–19 win.
Close Sets Against the Matadors
In their second match, the Princeton Tigers faced off against the California State University Northridge (CSUN) Matadors in another neck and neck battle. After pushing the Matadors to the brink in the first two sets and claiming the third, the Tigers ultimately fell in four sets, 29–27, 26–24, 22–25, 25–20.
From the opening set, the teams matched each other point for point, with Princeton finding offensive production from Omene, Jameson Vaccaro, Rice, and Ryan Vena. The Tigers capitalized on CSUN attack errors and found offense from Omene, taking their first lead of the match at 13–12.
From there, the two teams remained locked in a tense exchange, neither leading by more than a single point until the 27–27 mark. However, back-to-back attack errors from Vaccaro handed CSUN the set, 29–27.
The second set played out in a similar fashion, another back-and-forth affair that once again came down to the wire. Although CSUN claimed an early lead, Princeton controlled the tempo for much of the set. The Tigers led 24–22 and were on the verge of evening the match, but CSUN surged with a four-score run — its longest of the set — to snatch the second set 26–24.
Determined to shift the momentum, Princeton responded with a strong third set. Aces from Ben Harrington, Rice, and Vena fueled an offensive resurgence, as Rice and Omene combined for 11 points. Zero attack errors for the Tigers in the third set helped their stride, with 13 kills total and 0.684 hitting percentage. The Tigers’ more aggressive approach paid off, allowing them to close out the set 23–22 and stay alive in the match.
However, Princeton’s hopes of a comeback were quickly derailed by a rocky start to the fourth set. The Tigers fell into an early hole, but the Tigers were unable to fully recover from the early deficit. CSUN sealed the match with a 25–20 win in the fourth.
Omene led Princeton’s attack once again, marking the game-high of 26 kills, just one kill short of his career high against Charleston this season. Wedbush had 45 assists, tied for his season high, and reached a season-high 9 digs.
“The EIVA has some extremely physical guys, but none of the caliber of those west coast teams which makes us more confident going forward,” Vaccaro said. “For our next game against Daeman we are focused on trying new things and certainly experimenting.”
Valiant Defense Against the Nation’s Best
The Tigers’ trip built up to the top-ranked and only undefeated team in the nation, the Long Beach State Sharks, on Saturday night. Interestingly, the Sharks do not boast a single player in the top-30 for kills or blocks per set despite being top-four in kills and top-three in blocks as a team and first in hitting percentage.
The Tigers were swept in three sets, 25–19, 25–22, 25–19, but the big positive for Princeton was their defense. The Sharks had averaged a 0.415 hitting percentage, but the Tigers held them to their third-lowest of the season (0.333).
“I have to give a lot of credit to our assistant coach, Joe Norton,” Shweisky said about the team’s defense to the ‘Prince.’ “He’s the head of blocking defense, and our manager, Mason Tate, put together the reports.”
“Obviously, it’s tough whenever you have to play the No. 13, 7, and 1 team in the country within a week of each other,” manager Mason Tate ’25 told the ‘Prince.’ “Our coaching staff does a great job of assembling defensive game plans … our guys work really hard in scouting and practice to make sure [the players] are as prepared as possible."
This defensive prowess was evident in the second set, where Princeton recorded 5.5 blocks, including a solo from Vaccaro, that kept the set tight and held the Sharks to a 0.233 hitting percentage.
Whitfield also recorded four blocks that day, but the Sharks were still superior, with Dickinson Nato tallying an impressive seven blocks alone. On the offensive end, the Tigers were held to their fourth-lowest hitting percentage of the season (0.125), despite Omene still recording 15 kills, a game high.
“It’s not that [Long Beach State] has so many pieces or things that we don’t have,” he concluded. “They just have more experience playing high-level for more stretches of time, and so we’re excited to get back in the gym this week and try to keep improving with some of those lessons that we took away.”
After their weeklong trip to the West Coast, the Tigers return to Dillon Gymnasium to host the Daemen College Wildcats (9–4 overall, 0–0 Northeast Conference) on Saturday, March 22 at 1 p.m.
Bryant Figueroa is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Francie McKenzie is a staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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