ST. LOUIS, MO. - The Spalding volleyball team traveled to St. Louis to take on Principia Saturday afternoon. The Golden Eagles played a hard-fought match and defeated the Panthers in four sets. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Spalding 3 - Principia 1
LOCATION: James Howard Hay Field House | St. Louis, Mo.
RECORDS: Spalding: 9-17, 7-7 SLIAC | Principia: 4-17, 1-11 SLIAC

HOW IT HAPPENED
- The beginning of the first set was very back and forth. Neither team had more than a three-point lead for nearly the entire set. Late in the set however, Spalding put together a run to put them ahead 24-19. On the brink of losing, Principia put together a run of their own, closing in on the lead before Spalding called a timeout with the score 24-23. The timeout did precisely what it was meant to do, allowing Spalding to end the hot streak of the Panthers and win the set 25-23.
 
- The second set began similar to the first, however the streaks of point-scoring were much longer. Principia began with four straight points to open the set, before Spalding put together a run of seven to jump out to a 10-4 lead. After tying the set at 10, Principia went on a 9-4 run to take the lead by five. The Panthers held on to win the set 25-20.
 
- Spalding, disgruntled by the poor play in the second set, stormed out of the intermission between sets. The Golden Eagles quickly took a 5-1 lead and never looked back, allowing the Panthers only 12 points in the set. Spalding powered through Principia en route to the fourth set of the night, winning the third 25-12.
 
- The beginning of the fourth set appeared to be a repeat of the third set for the Golden Eagles. Spalding again jumped out to the early 11-2 lead and never stopped. The Panther attack was not able to gain more than a pair of points at a time against a resilient Golden Eagle defense. Spalding's powerful offense and stonewall-esque defense led them to a 25-11 set win, defeating Principia in four sets.

- Mya Summers led the Golden Eagles with 27 assists on the night, increasing her season total to 673. Cassie Jones led the Spalding attack with 10 kills and a .450 hitting percentage. Alexis Dirksen, Maddie Simmons, and Samantha Robison each added eight kills to the team total of 39. Haley Just gained the Eagles four service aces to secure the win.

UP NEXT
- The Golden Eagles stay on the road, heading to Carlinville, Illinois for a trio of games hosted by Blackburn. The first of three will be Friday night against Blackburn with the next two coming on Saturday afternoon against Greenville and Iowa Wesleyan. Times for the games are 6:00 PM, 11:00 AM, and 1:00 PM ET respectively.