Box Score Elsah, ILL. -- The Panthers pulled out a season sweep over Iowa Wesleyan with dramatic effect today! Game one was back and forth until Prin pulled ahead 23-20. A communication error here and a well-placed tip there, and Prin went down 23-25 in the first. Game two was ALL IWU. The Panthers had a few passing woes and IWU was doing a good job of creating chaos on Prin's side. The Panthers struggled in the middle going down 8-13, but they fought their way back into contention 12-14. The next points were well fought by both teams, but at 18-20 IWU took control and won 25-19. In game three Principia was in a deep hole 1-8. The team timeout was an important time to look in each other's eyes and commit to being dauntless and playing a bunch of "games to 1". And they did! 6-10, 8-11, 11-12, 15-15, 19-19, 25-20. The team just plain stepped up and executed the game plan. Game four was ALL Principia! The Panthers attacked the game with a disciplined clarity making the IWU offense stutter, and we patiently waited for our kaboom ball time and again! 25-12 Principia! Game five was anybody's game, but Prin was up 8-7 at the court change. Principia stayed smart and kept the ball flying, still patiently waiting to find the open court. The Panthers won 15-11! The win goes to the entire team who made decision after decision to keep competing. The win also goes to the home crowd. They were loud and supportive, and persistently stuck by our side! Thank you all!
Prin did a nice job offensively holding the team hitting error to 9% compared to IWU's 14%. The Panthers also won the serve battle with 10 aces and 5 errors compared to IWU's 4 aces and 7 errors. IWU showed a gritty determined defense, and actually may have inspired the Panthers to pick up their defensive efforts. There were some soulful defensive moments that kept the ball alive and ended up to be "turning point" points for the Panthers.
The Panther offense played with intention and persistence to find the quick ball to put away. The success shows in middle hitter Emily Tippett's stats. Emily put down 11 kills out of 33 swings with only 1 error, hitting .303.
Sophia Hathaway,
Sierra Sprague, and
Molly Moser were very effective hitting at the pins. They did a nice job of mixing up the offense and creating chaos for IWU. Sophia ended with 16 kills, Sierra 10, and Molly 6. Libero
Mia Gill served up 4 aces, and Sophia was close behind with 3. The Panthers had four digging double digits, with Mia picking up 30, Sierra 23, Sophia 13, and Molly 10.
Principia plays Eureka this Tuesday at home – hope to see you all there!!
