EIVA Tournament Recap
The EIVA Tournament provided a stunning result this past week as the No. 4 Princeton Tigers completed an amazing run to win this year's title.
In a year where the Penn State Nittany Lions looked poised to run the table and win the tournament, they now aren’t even in the NCAA Tournament following the loss.
The tournament started out with the quarterfinals where both teams that would meet in the finals found a way to prevail.
No. 3 NJIT surpassed No. 6 George Mason in four sets while Princeton had no problems against No. 5 Saint Francis defeating them in straight sets.
The next day is where all the major action took place.
Starting things off, NJIT continued its run against No. 2 Harvard by winning in four sets yet again.
Harvard cruised to a first set victory with a score of 25-17 before the Highlanders won the final three sets to win the match.
Jens Feldthus had his best game of the tournament with 15 kills for the Highlanders.
The main event that night however was the Princeton versus Penn State match.
In what was the only match of the tournament to see a fifth set, Princeton won the first two sets before Penn State won the following two to set up the crucial fifth set.
Once there, the Nittany Lions took a 9-6 lead before the Tigers came back and defeated the host team and top-seed of the tournament.
Prior to the tournament, Penn State had not lost a single EIVA conference game and finished 16-0 in conference this season.
The championship was now set between NJIT and Princeton and although the Tigers would win in four sets, the Highlanders were able to take the first set.
All four sets saw both teams score over 20 points but in the end, it would be EIVA Tournament MVP Ben Harrington who would seal the deal with a career high 24 kills in the match.
Harrington’s previous career high came in the prior match against Penn State.
Princeton secured its first EIVA Tournament championship since 2019 and locked in a spot in the NCAA Tournament as the lone EIVA team to do so.
Logan Bourandas is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him email lxb5412@psu.edu.
