Lady Eagles Drop Opener

The Faith Eagles entered Tuesday's season opening match against American Institute of Business with energy and enthusiasm.  The level was immediatley tested when starting sophomore setter Stephanie Knupp sustained an injury during pre-game session.  'We had just completed the majority of our pre-game activities in great fashion when Stephanie came down on her knee wrong.  You can imagine the immediate test our team and Stephanie when through!  KathieAnn did a great job filling in when she had little or no reps with the starting rotations during the week.  I thought we responded about as well as we could given it was our first match of the year," noted coach Lanny Nihart. 

Faith got off to a rough start in set one losing 25-10 but quickly gained some momentum and became better acquainted with their new primary setter.  In set two Julia Bray led the Eagles with 3 kills and 2 solo blocks leading Faith to a 24-22 lead.  AIB was able to gain serve and rally for 3 straight points due to serve receive errors by Faith.  AIB captured set two with an offensive kill ending the Eagles bid to get a set win.  "We should have won that second set.  We talked about getting leads and holding them and the expectation to win which only comes from executing at crucial times. "

The Eagles got out to a quick 11-5 lead in set three but again had inconsistencies in their ball handling and passing.  Faith only mustered 3 kills in the set while AIB took advantage and extended their lead to 22-16.  AIB took the set and match by the score of 25-19.  "I liked the energy we played with and I appreciated the effort given at times by our team.  KathieAnn did a great job of filling in for Stephanie and ultimately that may bode well for us.  We all agreed no matter who is on the court we are still in the same system.  We will go back to practice and correct our errors and improve defensively and offensively for our next match," notes Nihart. 

Faith was led by Julia Bray with 5 kills 2 blocks and 2 ace serves.  Senior libero Rikki Powell led Faith with 16 digs. 

The Eagles will next host the annual Spikefest Tournament this coming Friday and Saturday beginning play against Northland International University at 4:00 PM on Friday, Providence University College at 8:00 PM and Manhattan Christian College on Saturday at 11:00 AM.  Dependent on pool play finish the Eagles will have one remaining match on Saturday afternoon.