PRINCETON, NJ—Princeton, one of the leading teams in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, needed all it could muster to avoid an upset against visiting NJIT, which won the first two sets, but couldn't win any of the remaining three Saturday night, as the Tigers escaped, 3-2.
 
NJIT (7-7 overall, 0-5 EIVA) got close to the upset, winning the first set, 25-19,  and the second set, 28-26. The Highlanders built an 11-7 lead in the third set, but a sweep was not forthcoming, as Princeton (8-5 overall, 4-1 EIVA) fought back for a 25-23 win in Set Three. Princeton leveled the match with a 25-13 triumph in the fourth set and then claimed victory by a 15-11 count in the decisive fifth frame.
 
Princeton, which has received votes in all all eight weekly American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) National Division I-II poll this season and was ranked 14th as recently as the February 23 poll, defeated NJIT in an easy sweep (25-14, 25-12, 25-21) when the teams met in Newark on February 6.
 
The Tigers, whose 4-1 EIVA record is second in the standings only to perennial EIVA champion Penn State (4-0), got a tussle from the Highlanders, who are still looking for their first EIVA victory of 2015, in Saturday night's rematch.
 
Princeton got a match-best 20 kills from junior Devin Stearns and 16 kills from senior Cody Kessel, but they were the only two Tigers with double-figure kills.
 
On top of that, Kessel, an AVCA All-America (honorable mention) as a junior and a three-time All-EIVA first-team honoree, had 8 attack errors and a hitting percentage of .205. By comparison, he hit .409 when Princeton swept NJIT in February.
 
Kessel was not the only Tiger hitter to get different results on Saturday than he did the first times the teams met. Kendall Ratter hit .438 in the first meeting, but .048 in the rematch.
 
With some of their key hitters finding a lower rate of success in the rematch against NJIT, the team hitting percentage for Princeton was .269 on Saturday, compared to .441 the first time around. By the same token, the Highlanders went from a dismal .092 hitting percentage the first time around against Princeton to a more respectable .254 on Saturday.
 
NJIT had three hitters reach double-figure kills totals Saturday, headed by Kajetan Borecki (18 kills; .364 hitting percentage). Jabarry Goodridge added 16 kills for NJIT and captain TJ Jurko chipped in with 10 kills. Luke Robbe, in his first year as a middle hitter after playing as a setter all his life in volleyball, had 5 kills in just 7 attempts for a .714 hitting percentage. Ryan Thomas added 8 more kills from the middle.
 
Senior setter Zak Robben had a match-best 52 assists for the Highlanders, while Chris Kennedy's 47 assists paced the Tigers.
 
Princeton had a slight edge in the serving game, notching 7 aces to 6 for the Highlanders. The Tigers also committed fewer service errors (15) than the visitors (19). Thomas served 5 of the 6 aces for NJIT and Junior Oboh's 3 aces topped the winners.
 
One defense, NJIT had 40 digs, headed by 10 apiece for Borecki and Jurko, giving both men an offense-defense double-double. Libero Oren Zyndorf had 9 digs for the Highlanders, as well.
 
Tony Ensbury's 10 individual digs led Princeton, which combined for 30 digs as a team.
 
At the net, the Tigers enjoyed a 12.5-to-9 advantage in total team blocks, not a huge advantage in all circumstances, but important in a match as close as the one Saturday night.
 
Three Tigers shared the Princeton lead in individual blocks, as Stearns, Oboh, and Will Siroky all finished with a block solo and 4 block assists. Kessel added 4 block assists.
 
For NJIT, Borecki and Thomas each had 4 individual blocks, with Borecki's coming in 2 block solos and 2 block assists, while Thomas had a block solo and 3 block assists.
 
Having been beaten in nearly every way imaginable the first time the two teams met this season, NJIT quickly showed things would not be so easy for Princeton the second time around, going up 7-2 early in the opening set.
 
Later, it was 18-11 and 22-13 for the Highlanders before a late push got Princeton to within four points at 18-22. But NJIT finished off the set, 3-1, with a Goodridge kill providing set point.
 
In the second, Princeton got a point away from set point at 24-22, but NJIT rallied for the next three points on a pair of Jurko kills sandwiched around a Tiger hitting error. Down 25-24, Princeton rallied for two points to face another chance at set point. But Borecki and Goodridge each came through with kills for the Highlanders, who took a 27-26 lead before claiming the set on a Tiger hitting error.
 
Looking at the possibility of its biggest EIVA win in years, NJIT scored the first three points of the third frame and held the lead all the way to an 11-7 advantage. However, Princeton took the next five points for a 12-11 lead.
 
There would be four subsequent ties and NJIT would not fall behind by more than two points, while closing to within a point 12 more times, the latest at 23-24, before Oboh's kill for set point to keep the Tigers alive.
 
Princeton broke a 6-6 tie in the fourth set and dominated the rest of the way, 19-7, for an easy 25-13 win that made it two sets apiece.
 
NJIT led the fifth set 7-2 and 8-3, but the Tigers used a 4-0 run to get back close. NJIT took its last lead of the night, 11-10, on a Princeton serving error, but the Tigers responded with a 5-0 finish that included two blocks, an ace, and two kills, including match point on a kill for Kessel, the All-American.
 
NJIT will step out of EIVA competition for its second match of the season against long-time North Jersey tech rival Stevens, which comes into Newark for a match on Wednesday at 6 pm in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
When the teams met in Hoboken on February 11, NJIT came out on top 3-2 against the Ducks, who were first in the AVCA National Division III poll at the time. Stevens is second in the latest national Division III poll, released on March 3.