Volleyball Readies for NCAA Tournament on Friday vs No. 1 Seed Princeton

Friday, November 21

Princeton, N.J.

4 p.m.

Brown University

Princeton

Photo by: Chip DeLorenzo

Volleyball Readies for NCAA Tournament on Friday vs No. 1 Seed Princeton

11/20/2025 9:10:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown volleyball takes to the court against No. 1 seed Princeton in the semifinals of the Ivy League Tournament on Friday (Nov. 21) with first serve set for 4 p.m. inside Dillon Gymnasium on the campus of Princeton University.

The match against the Tigers will be streamed on ESPN+.

THE FIRST SERVE

Brown is making its fourth-straight Ivy League Tournament appearance and will be playing Princeton in the semifinals for the fourth-straight season. Brown won the first two meetings in the tournament against the Tigers but fell to Princeton in straight sets last season.
The Bears closed out the season splitting two home matches with a sweep against Columbia before being swept by Cornell.
Brown and Princeton split the two regular season meetings this year with both teams winning on the road. Brown swept Princeton on Oct. 3 and the Tigers won in four sets on Nov. 2.
A major factor in deciding the two matchups was the service line. In the sweep at Princeton, Brown finished the match with 12 aces and just four service errors. The script was flipped in Providence as the Bears finished with six aces but committed 14 service errors in the loss.
Both Mariia Sidorova (98) and Jessie Golden (90) are getting close to collecting 100-career service aces.

SCOUTING PRINCETON

Princeton won the Ivy League regular season by closing out the year on a five-match winning streak. It is the second-straight year that Princeton has hosted the Ivy League Tournament.
The Tigers have won their last four matches in straight sets and have won 13-straight sets dating back to their four-set win over Brown on Nov. 2. Princeton's last loss was a sweep against Yale on Oct. 31.
Princeton leads the Ivy League and is in the top-20 in the nation in multiple categories. The Tigers are 15th in assists per set (13.08), 17th in kills per set (13.95) and 19th in hitting percentage (.283).
Individually, Sydney Draper is leading the league and is eighth in the NCAA with 10.81 assists per set. Lucia Scalamandre is 17th in the NCAA with a .424 hitting percentage.

INSIDE THE SERIES

Brown and Princeton split the season series this year, giving Brown its first regular season win over the Tigers since the 2021 campaign.
The Bears and Tigers have met in each of the last three Ivy League Tournaments with Brown holding a 2-1 advantage. Brown won the first two meetings at Yale in the semifinals but lost last season when the Tigers hosted the tournament.
The three-set win at Princeton this season was the first sweep by the Bears at Princeton in program history. It was also the first win on the road for Brown in the series since 2021.

BEARS IN THE NCAA

Sophia Wolfson leads the Ivy League and is 15th in the NCAA with 1.47 blocks per set.
Jessie Golden is second in the Ivy League and 29th in the NCAA with 4.72 digs per set.
These two have combined to help Brown boast the best opposing hitting percentage in the league, allowing opposing teams to hit just .196.
Wolfson's .382 hitting percentage is 40th in the NCAA.
Julia Kakkis is 65th in the NCAA and second in the Ivy League with 9.67 assists per set.

HELLO FISAYO

Sophomore Fisayo Afonja returned to the lineup on Oct. 4 and has made an immediate impact for the Bears.
In a three-match stretch against Yale, Penn and Princeton, Afonja recorded double-figure kills, including a career-high 14 kills against Princeton.
Afjonja also posted an 11-kill, 12-dig and seven-block effort, while hitting .333 in Brown's win over Penn on Oct. 31.
Afonja also served the last 15 points in Brown's 15-0 run to close out the match against Dartmouth.

WEEKLY HONORS

Sophia Wolfson was named Ivy League Player of the Week on Oct. 6 after her performances against Princeton and Penn. Guiding Brown to a 2-0 weekend. Wolfson finished the weekend with 3.25 kills per set while hitting .431. She also added seven blocks, four digs and three aces.
Wolfson earned her second Player of the Week honor on Oct. 20. Wolfson led the Bears to a 2-0 weekend with sweeps against Harvard and Dartmouth. The sophomore finished the weekend with a team-high 4.17 kills per set, hitting .423 (25-3-52). Wolfson also added 10 blocks (1.67/set) and tied the team lead with six service aces.

COMING UP GOLDEN

Jessie Golden was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year for the second-straight season. The Tampa, Fla., native, as well as former Bear Victoria Vo have combined to give Brown three of the last four Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Golden reached 1,000-career digs last season and is moving up the all-time digs list at Brown.

            1) Tomo Nakanishi '97   1,762
            2) Katie Lapinsky '08      1,728
            3) Jessie Golden '26       1,447
            4) Kathryn Conner '15   1,432
            5) Elvina Kung '04          1,397

Golden comes into her senior year with a career 4.06 digs per set number. That number would be third all-time in program history. Golden has finished with a higher digs per set number than 4.06 in each of her last two seasons.
With 21 digs against Cornell, Golden earned 25 career matches with at least 20 digs. This is the most by a Bear in a career since Melissa Cairo (2014-17) finished her career with 24.
Golden added her 26th-career 20+ dig match with a 23-dig effort against Dartmouth. It is the most digs by Golden in a three-set match this year and the most by the senior in a three-set match since she had 24 in a win at Penn on Oct. 27, 2023.

KAKKIS TAKING CONTROL

Sophomore Julia Kakkis took control of Brown's offense when the freshman setter took over the spot at the beginning of Ivy League play last season. Kakkis finished the year with 8.81 assists per set and earned Honorable Mention Ivy League honors in her first year on College Hill.
Kakkis finished the year with 16-straight matches of double-figure assists and had a season-best 53 assists against Princeton.
This season, Kakkis reached 1,000 career assists in the win over Penn. Kakkis reached the milestone in her 33rd-career game, becoming the fastest Bear to reach 1,000 career assists since Kristen Sellers did so in her 32nd-career game in 2019.

WINNING WAYS

Brown has now posted five-straight seasons with winning records in Ivy League play after earning its eighth win of the season against Dartmouth. Brown's stretch is the longest in program history with a winning record in Ivy League play. The Bears posted a .500 record or better from 1983-90.
Brown's 14 wins this season has made it seven-straight seasons of double-digit wins for Brown. The last time Brown had seven-straight double-digit win seasons came from 1996-2002.

HITTING HIGH

Sophia Wolfson has already hit over .500 in five matches this season, including a season-best .625 against Bryant. All five of those matches have come with double-figure kills, the lowest a 10-kill performance in Brown's win over UCF (Sept. 14).
The last Bear to have at least five matches with over a .500 hitting percentage (min. 10 attacks) was Beau Vanderlaan, who did it seven times back in 2023. Vanderlaan also had five matches of over .500 hitting and double-figure kills during the season.
Wolfson now has 16 matches with double-figure kills this season. It is the most double-figure kill matches by a Brown middle blocker in a season since at least the 2012 season.

PROBLEMS ON THE SERVE

Brown has started the struggle on the serve as the season has come to a close. After having double-digit service errors in just one of the first 16 matches this season, Brown has now had double-digit service errors in four of the last seven matches. The Bears managed to win three of those matches.
More concerning for Brown is the last two matches for the Bears, Brown has had just one service ace to 12 errors. In the loss to Cornell, Brown did not pick up an ace for the first time all season. The last match without an ace for Brown was against Central Connecticut on Sept. 19, 2015.

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