Montgomery, AL. -- Principia Beach Volleyball concluded their spring break "train and compete" trip with a match against Mercer University, losing 1-4.
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Mercer had bigs and littles at every spot compared to Principia's tweener teams. Mercer has some athletes that could pound the ball and they knew how to find sand with shots as well.
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When Principia served tough, Mercer struggled. When Principia stayed with their shot to hit offensive ratio, Mercer scrambled. However Mercer could run down a ball and get back in system pretty well.
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The lone win came at #3 in one of the best Principia matches ever with
Makena Patterson and
Nikki Matters. These two served hard and it really hindered Mercer's offense. The defensive coordination of pulling and peeling looked sharp and intentional AND they executed on defense transition to gain more points.
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These two are a crack up with their never ending talk and their willingness to flail their body to keep the ball flying.
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This duo won in 2 straight sets 21-18, 21-16!
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By the end of this trip it has been cool to witness the improvement of everyone. All have had at least one match where things really clicked, and to watch the defense sharpen up and responsibilities be clearer, as well as seeing grit and heart on a daily basis. So much good!
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The team looks forward to having enough warmth in Elsah to get on the sand daily and keep getting stronger!
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