Eureka Sweeps Principia at Home

EUREKA – The Eureka volleyball team swept Principia and earned its first St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win of the season at Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena on Tuesday.

The final scores were 25-5, 25-10, 25-18.

The win was first-year coach Candace Van Bogaert's first on the Red Devils' home floor, and moved the team to 6-11 on the season and 1-5 in SLIAC play.

Brooklyn Shell (Evansville, Ind./Mount Vernon) led the way at the net, notching a match-high 12 kills while hitting .500 and only recording two errors. Frannie Heckman (Benson, Ill./Roanoke-Benson) followed with nine kills on 14 swings, hitting a red-hot .643 with zero errors.

Sara Hart (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) distributed 22 assists, while Hope McGinnes (Mackinaw, Ill./Deer Creek-Mackinaw/Lincoln) added nine. Hart also had a team-high seven digs and four aces.

Chloe Schaffner (Delavan, Ill./Delavan) notched a team-high five aces.

As a team, the Red Devils posted a team-high 12 aces and hit a team-best .317 overall.

Eureka dominated the first set, hitting .481 and jumping out to an 11-1 lead right off the bat. The home team scored nine straight points early and never let the Panthers score back-to-back points.

The second set was similarly one-sided early on. Eureka scored the first five points, then Principia answered with a 5-1 run to make it a one-point game.

At that point, Eureka responded by scoring six straight, taking nine of the next 10 points and cruising to victory from there.

The third set was a closer affair, but the Red Devils put it away by scoring six of the last nine points. The last kill of the night belonged to freshman Molly Masching (Pontiac, Ill./Pontiac).

Eureka (6-11, 1-5 SLIAC) will next host Spalding (4-11, 3-3 SLIAC) and Westminster (13-7, 6-1 SLIAC) on Saturday in a triangular at Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena. The Red Devils will face Spalding at 10 a.m. and Westminster at 2 p.m.