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An incredible weekend for the Princeton women’s volleyball team was punctuated with an exclamation point Monday, as the first-place Tigers swept the Ivy League weekly individual honors following their perfect week in the Empire State.
Senior Cara Mattaliano, the reigning Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year, was named the Player of the Week after recording 23 kills and 24 digs, all while hitting .262, in Princeton’s 3-0 wins over both Columbia and Cornell. Mattaliano’s effort on Friday against Columbia, the only other Ivy unbeaten at the time, was one of the best individual performances of any Ivy player this season; she averaged 4.8 kills and 3.0 digs per set and hit .387 in the road win.
Mattaliano was also named the GoPrincetonTigers.com Athlete of the Week, presented by Suburban Transit. She is one of two Princeton volleyball players to take the award over the last three weeks; fellow co-captain Brittany Ptak won it after Princeton’s 3-2 win at Penn.
“Cara continues her dynamic play this season,” head coach Sabrina King said. “She is an offensive threat from any place on the court, and she makes big plays.”
Mattaliano needs 34 kills to become the 13th player in Princeton history to go over the 1,000-kill mark for her career.
Freshman Jessie Harris earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors, incredibly becoming the third different Princeton freshman to win the award over the last four weeks (Maggie O’Connell and Devon Peterkin are the others). Harris recorded 69 assists, 21 digs and five kills to pace the Tiger offense, which remains the most efficient in the Ivy League. Princeton is now hitting .267 as a team this season, good enough to crack the Top 25 in the latest NCAA rankings.
“Jessie is fearless, and she runs an aggressive and mature offense,” King said. “She made huge contributions offensively and defensively this weekend.”
Princeton, which has won 15 of its last 16 Ivy League matches dating back to last season, will try to cap a perfect first half of the league season this weekend when it hosts both Brown (Friday, 7) and Yale (Saturday, 5). Both matches will be streamed live on the Ivy League Digital Network.
