Principia's home beach volleyball tournament began today, and the Panthers played two matches - against Stevenson University and Morehead State University, beating MSU and losing to SU. 

Stevenson is a solid team with great serving. They command the court with aggressive, well-placed serves, and their fine execution of a strategic offense makes them a tough opponent. Even though the Panthers lost to SU, Principia showed they were able to shore up their ball control and get better throughout the match. The Panthers appreciate the fine beach ball SU plays and most certainly gets better each time we play them.

Principia earned a great win against D1 Morehead State University, with Amanda Roberts / Victoria Vandiver (4s), Devon Marunde / Nikki Matters (2s), and Cha Cha Fisher / Emelie Fredrikson (1s) all winning for a 3-2 final. Roberts and Vandiver played the best ball of the their season taking MSU down in two straight sets 21-14, 21-17. These two women really worked to control the first ball off of serve receive, and then they played a beautiful small game mixing up tough shots with finding deep sand to score. They also played the best defense of their season -moving from block to dig seamlessly and picking up and converting on some tough hits from Morehead.

Marunde and Matters, and Fisher and Fredrikson both showed they could bounce back after less than desirable play. One team tanked game one and the other team didn't show up for game two. But, who cares? They took what they needed from their tough game and they built off of their good game in order to fuel their deciding game. These final games were a test of dogged determination and resilience. Each pair worked together beautifully to support and challenge one another to go after the win. They found the controllables and got stronger in believing and execution. The wins were 15-13 and 15-12 respectively, and the life skills in action were inspiring. They never gave up and they played with conviction.

Tomorrow Principia takes on Lewis & Clark (9am) and Ottawa University (2pm). We'd love to see you at the Sand Box to cheer them on!