Don Quixote and his magic windmill.
Captain Ahab and the great white whale.
Neither were ever able to capture the elusive prize that they chased after for so long. Principia College has been chasing after a SLIAC volleyball championship ever since the conference's debut year in 1989.
In its current 4 team format, the Panthers have qualified for the postseason tournament 6 times, made the final twice, but have always come away empty handed in the end. Today, Principia has a chance to re-write history and, at long last, catch the windmill and slay the great white whale.
I sure hope you still have some nerves left after yesterday night's thrilling soccer game because there are more Principia playoff games to be played. In just a few hours, the 'Vibe Tribe' will roll their way into Fulton, MO to make the first Principia College volleyball appearance in the SLIAC tournament in 5 years.
The Panthers will be double-dipping into the Westminster bowl of salsa this weekend as the volleyball team will follow suit of the soccer team in taking on the Blue Jays in a SLIAC playoff game. So, just in case you were craving more ornithology, you've got yourself another Panthers vs Blue Jays matchup today.
Principia enters today's game at the #4 seed while Westminster enters at the #1 seed and tournament host. The two teams played twice this season, as is customary in the SLIAC regular season schedule, with each team winning one game.
On September 19th, PC picked up a 5 set home victory over Westminster, but the Blue Jays evened the season score in a 3 set sweep during an October quad match. 'A Tale of Two Matches' was the theme of Principia and Westminster's meetings this season.
In the first match, the Blue Jays swung high, hard and recklessly, committing 44 hitting errors on 206 swings with a -.019 swing percentage. Principia played strong defense, with 114 digs and only 2 serve receive errors while swinging at a .097 hitting percentage and putting down 44 kills. PC, the team that made less mistakes won that game.
In the second match, Westminster took control early and stomped the pedal to the floor. The Blue Jays swung at a stupidly good hitting percentage of .343, with 46 kills and only 11 errors. Principia was unable to get any sort of offensive or defensive rhythm because of the hammering Westminster attack and were dominated in a 3 set loss.
However, the Panthers still posted a very good .246 hitting percentage of their own, with 34 kills and 6 errors. But, as has been the case all too often this season, 13 service errors significantly hampered the team and aided Westminster to victory.
Today, from a tactical standpoint, the key to the game hinge on whether or not Principia is able to take consistent swings. The Panthers lead all Division 3 volleyball teams with 42.21 total team attacks per set and their ability to keep opponents scrambling and out of rotation is imperative.
In the first matchup against Westminster, Principia swung 196 times in 5 sets, which led to those 44 Blue Jays' hitting errors and a lot of frantic scrambles on the light blue side of the court. In the second matchup, PC only managed 96 swings in 3 sets, allowing Westminster to hammer away at a helpless defense and stomp their way to that dominant victory.
On paper, the #4 seed beating the #1 seed seems like an extremely tall task. However, there is a precedent that Principia themselves have set. In 2013 - coincidentally, the last Principia appearance in the SLIAC volleyball tournament - PC entered the conference tournament as the #4 seed with a 12-6 record to face off against top seeded Greenville.
The blue and gold Panthers came out on top in that matchup, winning a thrilling 5 set affair before losing to Webster in the conference championship game. So, on paper, Principia appears to be up against the tide today but don't forget that there is a precedent for the kind of victory the Panthers hope to achieve today.
Another huge key to the game today, as several players outlined to me, is the idea of playing boldly. "We're seeded 4th and nobody really expects us to win today," junior captain Sophia Hathaway said. "So why the heck not go in and give absolutely everything we have?"
Outside of the box score, a major reason why Principia struggled so much in the last game against Westminster was because the team, as Hathaway said, "wasn't all there. We need to trust each other and trust that we have the skill to play our game and be all in for each other."
So, instead of sitting back and looking for the safe play today, the Panthers will look to dictate the tempo of the game and potentially make the more risky shots, as senior captain Cha Cha Fisher told me with one of the best quotes I've ever heard.
"Instead of just playing it safe and roll shooting or sending an easy serve over the net, we're gonna try and paint the back line with some bangers. Being bold can be risky because some of those shots can go out, but there's no way we're ending this season being timid."
And that idea of not being timid was also touched upon by Mia Gill when she told me that, "being bold defensively is pushing back that last millisecond of fear and knowing there are no consequences when we give our all to keep the ball up."
In a season full of special moments so far, Principia volleyball has a chance to put a timeless, signature stamp on it today with a conference championship. The road to that title begins against Westminster and could potentially end later tonight with a matchup against either Greenville or Webster.
Having the past week off after ending the regular season last Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky, the team is as tactically prepared as they will ever be for today. However, if there are still any lingering question marks about whether or not the squad is mentally prepared, let Mia Gill put those concerns to rest.
"WE'RE SO FREAKING EXCITED. THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DREAM OF DOING TODAY MORE THAN PLAYING THIS GAME WITH ALL MY FRIENDS. I'M SO FULL OF EXCITEMENT FUELED BY GRATITUDE!!!"
The final chapter of the 'Vibe Tribe' storybook was written last weekend in Kentucky when the regular season ended. But Principia have earned themselves the opportunity to write an epilogue and end the story how they want.
Here's hoping they're able to put an 'epic' in that epilogue.
