Unity and Growth in Minnesota – NCU Invite Day Two

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – After a restful night and relaxing morning of hospitality at the Ruter farm in Hanover, the Lady Eagles returned to Minneapolis for back-to-back matches to complete the NCU Invite.  "We knew that today would be another test for us against two NCAA DIII teams, and we were eager and ready to compete," said Coach Pitman.

In the first match against Crown College (St. Bonifacius, MN), the Lady Eagles got off to a slow start, hitting .000 and dropping the set 21-25.  The Lady Storm applied more pressure in set two, forcing Emmaus into the negatives in hitting percentage and controlling the pace of the game.  Emmaus lost 14-25.  "We have been talking all weekend about error control, and we really wanted to push to achieve better results in set three," said Coach Pitman.  Emmaus responded with 13 kills and 3 errors, hitting .323 for the set to earn a 25-13 win.  Set four saw both teams battle back and forth for control, with Crown pulling away at the end of the set (22-25) to take the match from Emmaus.  "We played really well in sets three and four, but the hole we dug in the first two sets was too deep to recover from against this opponent," commented Coach Pitman.

After a short break, the Lady Eagles took on tournament hosts North Central in the final match of the day.  "We broke down our strategy before the match and laid out three simple goals:  serve the ball in, pass to the setter, and reduce hitting errors," commented Coach Pitman.  Emmaus took these things to heart, racing to fast leads in sets one and two, while controlling the tempo of the match to take the wins (25-17, 25-16).  The Lady Rams would not give up however, as they made a huge run in set three on their own strong serving and hitting and stole the momentum back (16-25).  Set four was a very tight affair, with both teams trading great plays and long rallies.  Emmaus pulled away at a crucial time late in the set on a great ace by Alli Howard after a North Central timeout.  Soon after, Savannah Petersen put down match point on a kill to give Emmaus the victory (25-20).  Alli led the team with 12 kills, with Savannah contributing 9.  Hannah Bell had 34 assists and 6 service aces.

"Coach Ruter and I are extremely proud of our ladies' testimony and composure," said Coach Pitman.  "We went through some tough stretches this weekend, some moments of frustration, but we always recovered and maintained our unity with each other.  This team is growing and learning, and win or lose we are committed to playing together.  Every individual made a contribution in these four matches and we are excited to see improvement in many aspects of our game."

Emmaus rises to 4-2 on the season, and are back on the road this Tuesday (9/15) as they face another NCAA DIII opponent, the Blue Angels of Mt. Mary (Milwaukee, WI).  Match time is 6:00 pm.