After a dominating performance at Newman on Monday night, the Lady Panthers looked a bit out of sync at the start of their TRAC match with Hall on Tuesday. It took a first set loss before EP hit its stride early in the second set and then cruised to a 2-1 win over Hall.
The first set was equal during the outset as the teams battled to a 6-6 tie. EP took their first lead at 7-6 and led again 8-7 but that would be their last lead of the set. EP struggled with their spikes as several sailed deep or wide. Hall grabbed a four point advantage and ran it to six at 17-11 before an EP timeout. The Lady Panthers could not gain any ground as the advantage remained at six with Hall up 22-16.
With Alaina Frank serving, the Lady Panthers mounted a rally scoring six of the next seven points to close to 23-22 with Hall taking time. A serve into the net by EP gave the Lady Red Devils a two-point advantage as the held on for 25-23 win.
The second set was tied at 5 before EP went on a demoralizing 7-0 run to take a commanding 12-5 lead. The Lady Panthers led by as many as 9 before Hall cut the margin to 6 at 22-16. After a quick pep talk from coach Rachel Bramm the squad took care of business getting the set win, 25-17.
The EP momentum continued into the deciding set at the Lady Panthers exploded out of the gate racing to a 10-2 lead. EP continued to pour it on as they led by 16 at one point. Bramm was able substitute freely the second half of the set as the Lady Panthers got the set and match win 25-10.
“We definitely had a bit of a slow start to our night, but we were able to put the first set behind us and pick up some steam through the second set and finally put it away in the third,” said coach Bramm. “It wasn’t necessarily the performance that we were looking to have tonight, but not every night can be our best. I’m still very proud of the way that the girls fought back to secure the victory, but we’re looking to be bigger and better moving forward. We’ve got a pretty instant opportunity for redemption on Thursday against Riverdale, a contest that is almost guaranteed to be a thriller from beginning to end.”
EP Stats
Kayler Pritchard: 6 kills (0.364), 1 block
Lauren Punke: 6 kills (0.250), 4 blocks
Lia Milem: 24 assists, 4 kills, 13 digs, 1 block, 1 ace
Emma Anderson: 17 digs, 2 assists, 1 ace
With their second conference win of the week EP improves to 13-5-2 and 5-1 in conference play with a rivalry match on Thursday at Riverdale.
