St. Louis, MO. -- Principia won the original meeting against Fontbonne University in five sets on September 8th, and walked into the fieldhouse tonight prepared with a gameplan, and the Principia women executed it well enough to take Fontbonne in three straight sets.
Statistically this was a tight match – both teams with 17-18% error and 29% kills. Both teams dug 63% of the other's swings. The big difference came at the service line. Principia served up a 12:5 ace to error ratio, and Fontbonne suffered with a 0:9 ratio.
Game one was close until
Nikki Matters stepped back to serve at 15-14, and she kept serving 10 in a row with her team playing tough defense, until they won 25-14 (Nikki ending the service run with 6 aces). Game two was close with Fontbonne climbing back into competitive stature after being down 13-17. Principia strayed briefly from their gameplan and Fontbonne pulled close, but Principia closed it out well. Game three was a bit stressful with Fontbonne in the lead from the get-go. Principia kept at it, but it wasn't until the Panthers strung together a few good plays in a row, that the score moved from 18-21 to 22-22 to set the stage for the 25-23 final set victory.
Noelle Shoemake led the Panther offense with 7 kills and only 1 error hitting .429, and she also led the defense with a season high 23 digs.
Coach Sprague said, "The team really owned the strategy and execution tonight. They demonstrated great progress in communication and a cohesive defense. I'm very proud of them!"
Principia hosts a SLIAC Quad match this Saturday playing Webster University at 11am, and Spalding University at 1pm. We would love to see you there!
