GALESBURG, ILL. -- The Prin volleyball women started day two of the Prairie Fire Invitational matched up against host Knox College. Prin set the pace for the match with Molly Moser putting together a nice run of serves and the defense backing her up to earn an 8-4 lead. Prin stayed in the lead until Knox fought back to 19-19.  Prin was persistent and won game one 25-19. Game two was different with Prin going down 7-12 and then getting deeper in a hole at 10-17. Coach Sprague called her last timeout at that point, and the women really turned it around at that point.  It wasn't a fairy tale comeback, but the team stuck with it and were willing to do what it took to gain control of the game. Lily Richards and Tess Rountree served tough and the defense backed them up as Prin climbed back into the game 14-20, 15-20, 16-20 until the game sat at 18-22. Savanna Sprague was next to the service line and served  18-22 until 24-22.  Prin ended up taking game two 25-23 – phew! Game three was all Prin as they secured the sweep with a 25-16 victory. Prin had a well rounded offensive attack with Tess, Jess Bushong, Sierra Sprague, and Christine Nacewicz and Savanna combined for 38 kills and a slugging percentage of  .278.

Next up – a tough Coe College team. They had beaten everyone in the tournament in three  straight games except for a 4 game victory over William Penn. Prin was fast out of the gates, and I do not think Coe was planning on this match being a  battle. Prin was bold, hitting hard and smart,  and they found a bit more soul in their defense too. 13 kills and 1 error later (team hitting percentage .352)  Prin was on top 1-0 winning game one 25-21. Game two started out chaotic, but Prin was turning chaos into order much better than Coe.  9-1 - behind some great serving from Christine Nacewicz. 15-2 -behind great team play.  It was almost too good to be true, but Prin played determined,  even when Coe started to get their act together.  16-6  ….  19-10. It was too little, too late for Coe and Prin took game two 25-13. Prin served well and that made it hard for Coe to ignite their offense.  However, Coe started to find their rhythm in game three, and Prin didn't create any serving runs but spent most of the time trying to defend Coe's triple threat offense. Coe grabbed game three with gusto. Game four was truly a battle. Coe was always a point or two ahead except for 10-10 and 17-17. Prin fought hard every step of the way making Coe really earn the victory. Coe put the nail in the coffin in game five showing confidence and boldness in their play, while Prin commited too many unforced errors to stay competitive.  Tess stepped up in this match and killed 17 balls, served three aces, and had two aces and 13 digs. Molly Moser picked up a career high 23 digs in the Libero  position. Christine had a career high 22 digs, and Sierra rounded out the double digit diggers with 13.  All in all it was a good weekend and Prin volleyball sits at 5-3 going into SLIAC play.