2024 Princeton volleyball preview: Strong junior class provides senior-like experience

The Princeton Tigresses volleyball team will take the floor with just two seniors entering the 2024 season.

That doesn’t mean the Tigresses don’t have other players with senior-like experience.

The two seniors, Ellie Harp and Karsyn Brucker, are backed by a strong junior class, including Keighley Davis, Camryn Driscoll, Makayla Hecht and Caroline Keutzer, who all were thrown into the varsity fire as sophomores, as well as junior newcomer Keely Lawson, who was a varsity starter as a freshman at neighbor Bureau Valley.

“Even though we only have two seniors, we still have a lot of experience with the girls below us, and we all have a lot of fun playing together and bond and work great together,” Harp said. “Offensively, we are very strong, and our defense has gotten a lot better since the summer. Since we’ve started, everyone’s gotten a lot more comfortable. I feel like we have a lot of potential, a lot of great athletes on our team this year.”

Princeton coach Andy Puck, who starts his 23rd season at the Tigresses’ helm, shares Harp’s enthusiasm for this year’s team.

“Super excited for the season just because we had four to five sophomores starting last year, and they’re all back as juniors. And then we had two juniors that now are back as seniors. So we’ve got a lot of experience, which is great,” he said.

Puck said Harp and Brucker will be strong leaders for this year’s team.

“Both of them contributed a lot on the team last year,” he said. “Ellie’s been with me three years now and Karsyn is a two-year starter. They both played a lot this winter with their club teams. They kind of lead by example. I don’t want to say it’s senior leadership by any means, because they give everybody a voice, which is really nice.”

The Tigresses’ bring back three-fourths of their total kills, graduating only Chrissy Sierens, who was third on the team last year with 115.

Puck said all of his hitters are versatile and can all move across the front row.

“It will be a little different look than I’ve ever had because I’ve never had this many kids that have been this athletic,” he said.

Harp, who will start as an outside hitter, had a team-high 176 kills last year.

Keutzer, who recorded 156 kills, is a “super quiet blocker and what I mean there, she’s a pogo stick. She’ll disrupt a lot of hitters,” Puck said.

Davis, who matched Sierens’ tally with 115 kills to go with 26 blocks, will play at middle along with classmate Kathy Maciczak, who played in nine sets for the varsity last year.

Lawson, who becomes eligible this year after her transfer, was a second-team All-BCR selection as a freshman, leading Bureau Valley with 30 blocks (0.38 per set) to go along with 126 kills (1.5 per set).

With the graduation of setter Natasha Faber-Fox, who now plays at IVCC, Puck will utilize a 6-2 format this season with juniors Rylie Rauh and Hecht sharing setting duties. Hecht was called up for the postseason last year and gave the Tigresses a spark off the bench.

“They’ve just taken the ball and run with it,” Puck said. “Kind of threw them into the fire this summer. I told them, ‘I have all the trust in the world inn you.’ And once they earned the trust from their teammates, and, more importantly, the trust from themselves, they’ve just been playing dynamite.”

Driscoll, who was pulled up to the varsity as sophomores to help out in the back row, will step into a bigger roles this year as she takes over as libero.

Ava Kyle, a “spitfire and a go-getter,” will be this year’s addition from the sophomore squad to help shore up the Tigresses’ back row play. Classmates Bella Clevenger (DS) and Danika Burden (OPP/OH) will also see time with the varsity.

The one area the Tigresses, who went 16-17-1 last year, are working on the most, Puck said, is ball control.

“If there’s a knock on us, it’s probably serve receive. But I think it’s every team out there right now. It’s one thing that everybody drills and works on and works on,” he said.

Puck see’s the Three Rivers East being competitive, especially with the addition of Erie-Prophetstown coming over from the West, joining defending champion Newman (10-0) and the other holdovers, Mendota, Hall and Kewanee all being improved. PHS placed second (6-4) a year ago behind the Comets.

Harp said the Tigresses go into the conference season expecting to win it.

“I think this year, especially since we have more experience, it’ll just flow a lot easier, and everyone’s very competitive on our team, but in a good way,” she said. “So I think it’ll be easier to win because everyone really wants to win. I think we’re all on the same page in the aspect of we can definitely be a very good team.”

The Tigresses will open the season at home on Tuesday, Aug. 27 vs. longtime rival La Salle-Peru. They will host the Princeton Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 12.