Eagles Avenge Early Season Loss, Defeat Emmaus 3-1

Ankeny, IA - Faith moved to 5-3 in the conference Tuesday night with an important win over visiting Emmaus Bible College. Faith's three conference losses come from two against league-leading Manhattan Christian and the other at Emmaus early in the season. Faith hoped to avenge that earlier loss and move into second place in the conference with a win.

When the two teams met previously, Faith was without their 2022 team MVP, setter Reagan McPeek, and the team struggled to generate a consistent attack as a result. Tuesday's match was a different story, as Faith came out swinging in set one. Faith led by as much as 10, with the final being a 25-17 margin of victory. 

Emmaus found some rhythm in set two and the set was a back-and-forth affair. Faith found themselves down 23-21 but clawed back into it to tie the match at 24 apiece. Unfortunately, a kill by Emmaus and an attack error by Faith saw Faith fall 24-26 in set two. 

Set three was nearly identical to set two, with the match tied at 23 apiece. Faith earned several opportunities for set point, but Emmaus hung on until Faith finally earned a kill by Belle Wirges and a block from Wirges and Rachel Forgie to earn the set three win 27-25.

The see-saw battle continued in set four, with Faith clinging to a 15-16 lead midway through. Three attack errors by Emmaus and a kill by Codie Wirges opened some breathing room for Faith at 15-20. Faith took that momentum and ran as they moved to within a point of a match victory at 24-17, but Emmaus wasn't quite done. Several mistakes by Faith made everyone in the gym nervous as Emmaus pulled back to within two at 22-24, but a service error by Emmaus gave the Eagles the point they had been looking for all match as they won 3-1.

Faith was led by Codie Wirges and Rachel Forgie, who had 17 and 15 kills respectively. Wirges also earned 4 serving aces, while Maddie Hodak had a team-leading 37 digs. Setter Reagan McPeek had 48 assists on the night. The win puts Faith at 13-6 overall on the year.

Faith returns to action on Friday, October 13, and Saturday, October 14 for two more important conference games as part of Faith's annual homecoming activities. Faith will play Ozark Christian on Friday at 6 PM. That game will be followed by the annual alumni volleyball game, scheduled to take place around 8 PM. Faith will host Calvary University on Saturday a 1:15 PM for their Homecoming match.