Eureka Blanks Principia, Completes Season Sweep, 3-0

EUREKA – The Eureka volleyball team blanked Principia 3-0 on Tuesday to complete a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season series sweep of the Panthers at Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena and Convocation Center.

Principia hung around during the first set, but the Red Devils closed it out strong and kept the next two from being very competitive. The final scores were 25-17, 25-13, 25-15.

The Red Devils hit a season-best .186 and landed a season-high 21 service aces on the night.

Eureka's Payton Florine (Galesburg, Ill./Abingdon-Avon/Lincoln) tallied a team-high nine kills while hitting a team-best .412. The senior outside hitter only had two hitting errors out of 17 swings and recorded four service aces and six digs to go with it.

Alexis Charlton (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) landed a career-high seven aces and posted five kills. The junior also only had two hitting errors out of 11 attacks.

Setter Hope McGinnes (Mackinaw, Ill./Deer Creek-Mackinaw/Lincoln) registered 10 assists and five aces. Libero Jurnee Flournoy (Decatur, Ill./Decatur MacArthur) finished with a team-high eight digs.

Sam Borton-Center had a team-high eight kills in the loss for Principia.

The Red Devils (3-11, 2-7 SLIAC) will next head to St. Louis on Thursday to take on one of the top teams in the league in Webster (9-9, 7-1 SLIAC) at 6 p.m.