Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Vs MacMurray
The Panthers took the court against MacMurray first, and it was MacMurray from the get-go. Principia called their first timeout at 9-15 and rededicated themselves to playing the game point by point. Slowly but surely Principia pulled themselves back into the game, finally tying Mac 21-21. It didn't get any easier with the four point game moving slowly 23-22, 23-23, 24-23, and then senior
Christine Nacewicz smacked a ball down the line on the right side to put game one to rest.
Game two was too similar with Principia calling timeout at 8-11 to find a sense of stillness and remember how we wanted to play the game. After tying it up 14-14, Principia put together a few good serves and solid defense to pull ahead 20-17. Mac kept their foot in the door moving the score to 22-20, but then Principia strung a few points in a row together to finish game two 25-22. Principia was in the lead for the entire third game until Mac tied it up 19-19 and snatched the lead away. Principia just kept working though. They did not shy away from the fight and ended up taking the "w" in three straight with a final 26-24.
Vs Iowa Wesleyan
Thirty minutes later Principia was at it again against a tough Iowa Wesleyan squad looking to even the score after falling to the Panthers earlier this season. This match was a knock-down, drag-out battle for five long games. There were lots of ups and downs, but once again the Principia squad kept looking each other in the eyes and rededicating themselves to finding that toughness inside. It was inspiring watching them figure it out and step up to boldly compete! Game one went to IWU. Game two was Prin's. Game three and four were pure battles! Principia was quickly in a hole in game three at 5-9. After the time out, they clawed their way to a 10-10 position and then slowly climbed on top and never trailed again. However, IWU was right on their heels until Prin finally finished it 25-23. Game four was tied 3-3, 6-6, 10-10, and then IWU pulled ahead 18-14 and then 23-20. Prin held on as long as they could until IWU finally finished 29-27. After that roller coaster, who would have guessed how dominant Principia would be in game five? Tough serving, great blocking, soulful digging and powerful hitting proved too much for IWU as Prin took the final game 15-6.
Prin had a beautifully diverse offensive attack with
Tess Rountree putting down 25 kills, Jess Bushong 18,
Sierra Sprague 10 and
Christine Nacewicz 8. The Panthers kept their error at a manageable 7% and hit .245 as a team! A few names will show up in the Principia All-time record book after this match.
Tess Rountree moves into #1 all time for Digs in a five game match with 40 (displacing teammate
Summer Switzer at 37), and
Sierra Sprague moves into #4 All-time for Digs in a 5 game match recording 31. Jess and Tess were big at the net for us, with five and three blocks respectively.
Savanna Sprague was strong as the quarterback – moving the ball around and finding the right hitter at the right time to keep the defense moving and guessing. She tallied 44 assists, three service aces, 15 digs and three kills for the match. Summer was tenacious as the Libero. Her competitive drive was awesome as she anticipated and dove under some amazing IWU attacks. She ended the match with 24 digs and three service aces.Â
Lily Richards stepped in to set the ball whenever Savanna was digging  and she did a great job delivering to the hitters!
Molly Moser played great defense on the right side, figuring out IWU's big right side slide attack and digging it with ease by the end of the match. Molly ended the match with 15 digs and was the lone member of the 100% serving club in this match.
