Stevens Club Volleyball Match at Princeton University
16 February 2020
This past weekend, the club volleyball had its first match of the Spring 2020 season at Princeton University. Stevens participated as 2 teams, an A team and a B team, both playing the Princeton club team. There were two best of five matches between the teams. The team had nearly full attendance which is fantastic for the two teams, and the club is also grateful to some parent audience which kept the momentum throughout the long two matches.
The first match was between Stevens A team versus Princeton's club team. Unfortunately, Stevens started off to a rocky start, losing the first set 21-25. In this set we were missing serves, and our attacks were sloppy and predictable. Despite rallying 5 points at the end, the differential that Princeton had in the beginning was simply too much to overcome. Princeton had strong blocks against our outside attacks, and so we relied on our freshman middle blockers Max Metzner and Paul Leible, as well as opposite hitter Harry De Haas to score most of our points. Senior Kris Knight did a very good job of setting from all different parts of the court. In the second set, Stevens was able to decisively defeat Princeton, 25-16 by having strong blocks and good serves. Tim Luft had very strong topspin serves which greatly diminished Princeton's ability to respond. Tim Luft, Austin Hong and Henry Fung were connecting hard on their outside swings in this set which proved too much for Princeton. Stevens continued to win the next two sets as well, 25-21 and 25-22. One of the main reasons behind Stevens victory was the immaculate play of libero Brian Gao and Zack Salisbury, both able to keep the ball in play after blocks or shanked passes, which really helped the team mentality. Furthermore, both players had punishing topspin serves that widened hot streaks. Kris Knight played better and better as the sets went on. Also, middle blocker Max Metzner had fast attacks that quickly racked up points for the Stevens A team. Other freshman middle blocker Paul "Rambo" Leible had tall blocks in the middle which stuffed Princeton's attacks. Throughout the match, the A team fluently communicated and stayed focused on specific techniques thanks to the new coach. For instance, after the first set, Coach Dritan emphasized the shift in momentum before tipping over the block which opposite hitter Harry De Haas made great use out of.
The second match was the first match for Stevens B team, which was critical for the team to get experience playing against a different team. For some members of the team this was their first experience playing for Stevens in a competitive environment. In the first set, Stevens B was victorious, winning 25 – 22. In this set, freshman setter Justin Cheng played very well having a couple set-winning saves. On top of that, Jake Burger played opposite hitter very effectively, getting consistent blocks on the edge. Kendall Niles-Peretz had strong attacks outside, along with freshman Jake Roberts. This was Jake's first game for Stevens, but he showed no signs of being nervous, being able to hit powerful spikes and convincing tips on the outside. Middle Blockers Cary Qi and Tyler Brunquell both played very well by hitting fast attacks over the middle. Cheng made great use of varied set timings for the two middle blockers. In the second set, Stevens lost to Princeton 19-25. This was mainly due to our blocking, as Coach Dritan explained. In this set, the team was able to make substitutions to different players allowing players like Dan Tuder, Miles Bird and Louis Cantor to get experience on the court. In this set, despite the loss, Jakob Makover rallied a number of float serves which kept the match competitive. Stevens B team won the third set 25-21 in a similar manner to the first. Good serves by libero Pablo Del Puerto and Jakob Makover were able to split up Princeton's defense and gave Stevens enough time to react and pass the ball well enough despite some blocking miscues. One of the largest adaptions made by Stevens in this second set was the recognition by Jake Burger to mix up the timing of his blocks to stuff Princeton's hitters. In addition, Tyler Brunquell played back row and had very smooth passes, which opened a lot of options for Justin Cheng to make use of, such as back row attacks. Freshman Miles Bird was able to play one rotation in front row which helped outside hitter Jake Roberts catch his breath. The next set, however, was like the second. Stevens lost in a close 23 – 25 set. Despite Stevens making improvements throughout the day, in this defeat Princeton used its middle attackers much more extensively which was too much for the blocks and rookie libero Pablo Del Puerto to handle. However, the team did not lose its mentality and was able to shake off the loss with charismatic hits by Jake Roberts, Kendall Niles Peretz, and Jake Burger, all of which kept the set incredibly competitive. Finally, the two teams entered the fifth set, played to only 15 points. In this set, both clubs did not play their best game, as there were a number of missed serves, faulty blocks, and shanked passes. To make matters worse, going into the final stretch tied 12-12, Tyler Brunquell suffered an unfortunate injury which left him out of the rest of the game. Louis Cantor subbed in for him and the team rallied around the change enough to bring about a victory. Justin Cheng made a diving save that saved the team in the last point. Stevens B won the last set 15-13 and returned home victorious.
Overall, the matches at Princeton were incredibly important for the season altogether because it gave each team an opportunity to play together for the first time. The bar is set high for the rest of the season as both teams won their games, but the coach and players are the first to say that there is a lot more work to be done by all throughout the season ahead.
2019-2020 Stevens Mens Club Volleyball Travel Roster: Princeton Match
Austin Hong
Miles Bird
Jake Burger
Tyler Brunquell
Brian Gao
Cary Qi
Dan Tuder
Henry Fung
Harry De Haas
Jake Roberts
Jake Makover
Justin Cheng
Kendall Niles Peretz
Kris Knight
Louis Cantor
Max Metzner
Pablo Del Puerto
Paul Leible
Tim Luft
Zack Salisbury
Lukasz Komza
Ken Yun
Terrence Meekins
Patrick Lyons
Wyn Barnum
