Eagles Host Final Home Game

The Lady Eagles hosted their final regular-season home game last night against NCAA DIII opponent Grinnell College (Grinnell, IA). While the Eagles fought back late after trailing, the Pioneers attackers were too much for Faith to overcome, and Grinnell would take the 3-0 win.

Faith started out sluggish at the beginning of each set, but would find a way to pull it together later on. The Eagles trailed 10-2 early in set one. They came as close as 8-12 before Grinnell would extend their lead and eventually take the set 25-14. The Eagles struggled on serve receive at the start of set two, as Grinnell jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead. Faith broke the Pioneer's run but still had difficulty keeping the serve to cut into the lead. Grinnell had a 24-13 lead and looked to take set two. But Faith put together a strong run, climbing all the way back to 24-20 before Grinnell got the final point off a missed serve. 

Set three started out just as the previous set, with Grinnell going up 6-0, but Faith had more energy and stayed in contention most of the set. When Grinnell led 20-13, the Eagles did just as they had before and fought back to within three. Following an out of rotation call against the Eagles, Grinnell held a 23-20 advantage, but with three straight kills, Faith closed the gap and tied the game 23-23. Pioneers Olivia Jensen and Kaylin Kuhn got the last two kills of the game to give Grinnell the victory.

Grinnell's offense out-powered the Eagles, finishing with 44 kills compared to the Eagles' 21. Abby Booth led the attacks for Faith with her 6 kills. Emilie Morton ended with 15 assists. 

Faith has a quick turnaround for their next game as they travel to Grand Rapids, MI for a triangular matchup this weekend. They will play Mount Mary University on Friday then Grace Bible College and Finlandia University on Saturday.