ELSAH, ILL.—Today the Gold and Blue split the day, 1-1, beating Iowa-Wesleyan 3-0 and falling to Cornell College 0-3. What stayed consistent throughout the back-to-back matches was Principia's ability to keep their heads up and move on to each point. They played tough and stayed focus.
Against Iowa- Wesleyan, Principia succeeded at playing bold.
Kiersten Andersen led the servers with four aces while
Tess Rountree earned fifteen kills with zero errors and three solo blocks. On defense, Tara played strong and ready for the tip, picking up fourteen digs on defense and slowing down numerous hits with her block touches. Principia kept a safe lead through each game; ending scores were 25-18, 25-20, 25-15.
Cornell College came out powerfully against Principia, setting up an strong block and putting down hard hits. Fortunately, Principia matched up against Cornell with equal power,
Christine Nacewicz and Edwards setting up effective blocks with
Summer Switzer and
Jessyca MacMullin against the outside and Rountree earning another three solo blocks against the right side (six for the day). Rountree, Andersen, and Nacewicz swung fearlessly throughout the match, even with Cornell's huge block. Switzer and MacMullin earned points running the middle, and all wing diggers picked up most balls on defense (eleven digs each). If Principia could have eliminated service errors, the match could have been closer. Scores for the match were 20-25, 16-25, and 22-25.
Edwards ended the day with fifty-five assists.
The Gold and Blue will return to action on the road against Westminster, who will fight Principia for the third place spot in the conference tournament.
