LOS ANGELES >> It’s not often a coach will open a press conference with “Wooooow!” But that was Dr. Fred Battenfield who was still trying to wrap his head around his volleyball program’s historic win Sunday in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Tournament.

As the headline on North Greenville University’s website reads: Every Day. Epic.

That it was in UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, where the seventh-seeded Crusaders stunned sixth-seeded Princeton 25-21, 25-18, 40-38 and shocked a large part of the volleyball world. NGU not only gave Conference Carolinas its first victory in seven NCAA appearances, it quadrupled the number of sets won during the six previous matches; prior to Sunday, ConfCarolinas was 1-18 in sets.

The youngest of the five NCAA Division I-II conferences had always been the lowest seed and — with the exception of Barton taking a set off Princeton in 2019 – had been swept in what was called the play-in match.

With all seven teams at one site for the first time in history, Sunday’s contest was called the opening round. It might be the opening salvo for the Crusaders “who have nothing to lose,” said Battenfield, a part-time coach who announced he was retiring at the end of this, his eighth season. “Never in a million years did most people expect this. Most people probably thought, ‘Do they belong?’

“I had faith. The second round will be difficult. It’s a dream of a lifetime to be stepping on the court with the defending national champions. It’s a dream of a lifetime to play Hawaii where they love volleyball.

“There’s no pressure on us.”

But what the Crusaders do well is put pressure on opponents from the service line. They had just six aces, three each by senior setter Sergio Carrillo and freshman middle Michael de la Cruz, as well as the heat from freshman opposite Gregory Torres.

The three Puerto Ricans kept the Tigers (15-12) out of system for most of the two hours. It wasn’t until Set 3 where Princeton found a rhythm from the service line, with all five of their aces coming in what would be the last set.

Three came during one service turn by freshman Nyherowo Omene, who played both middle, left and right while the Tigers searched for answers to solve the Crusaders. His service run had Princeton out to a 9-4 lead, the margin expanding to 18-11 after two more aces.

“I told them (at 16-9) let’s get ready for the fourth,” Battenfield said. “I kind of bailed. But they said, ‘No, we’ll do it in three.’”

One of the longest sets in NCAA history saw 23 ties and seven lead changes, the majority happening after the Crusaders took a 21-20 lead on an ace by de la Cruz.

North Greenville held off six set points that would have pushed it to a fourth. Princeton held off nine match points before a Tiger service error and hitting error ended it.

“I’m still in shock,” Carrillo said. “We were down by seven and we never gave up.

“We wanted to make a statement around the nation that a sweep would make.”

Torres finished with 19 kills and de la Cruz, a middle, added 10 kills with just one error to hit .529. The Crusaders won the block war 10-6.5 with Emanuel Adames in on six.

For Princeton, sophomore opposite James Hartley had 19 kills and just missed a double-double with a match-high nine digs. Sophomore hitter Ben Harrington added 10 kills.

The Tigers had upset host Penn State en route to the EIVA Tournament title, riding a 10-match winning streak. The last time Princeton was in the tournament, the Tigers fell to Pepperdine in five in 2019 at Long Beach State.