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The Pride finished a very successful weekend at the Sandy Hoffman Memorial Tournament in Boston, MA. With three of the four teams qualifying for the NCAA Tournament last year, the competition was tough, but this new PNW squad was up to the challenge. With wins against Valdosta State and Holy Family, the Pride finished the weekend 2-2, already matching last year's win total in the first weekend. Here is a recap of each match and look for The Pride next weekend as they travel to Owensboro, KY for the Kentucky Wesleyan College Invitational.  

Valdosta State: W 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-21) 

The Pride started this season off in a big way by sweeping Valdosta State. The Blazers struggled to keep up with the Prides offense the whole match as Valdosta's blockers struggled to read and react to the tempo produced by setters Olivia Brooke (Logansport, Ind./Pioneer HS) and Claudia Ayerite (Fresno, Texas/Fort Bend Hightower (Fort Scott CC)). Both setters paced the offense to a team .336 hitting percentage while the defense held Valdosta to a .136 hitting percentage. Lauren Sanders (Indianapolis, Ind./Avon HS) led all attackers with 11 kills, Summer Clark (Chicago, Ill./Chicago Christian HS)e added 9 and Erica Brohm (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley HS) had 9 as well with a .471 hitting percentage. Ayerite and Brooke had 20 and 19 assists respectively as Livia Thompsen set the pace on defense with 15 digs.  

Bentley University: L 0-3 (19-25, 19-25, 16-25) 

The second match of the day didn't fare as well for the Pride. When PNW was in system, the Falcons struggled to react to the Pride's offensive speed. But as the match wore on, Bentley became more confident at the serving line and started serving more aggressively which produced some passing troubles for the Pride. As the passing started to falter, so did the offense. Bentley was able to force PNW to 14 service reception errors for the match. PNW fought hard though, for every run the Falcons went on, the Pride would catch up but playing from behind too frequently led to PNW falling short in all 3 sets. Lauren Sanders (Indianapolis, Ind./Avon HS) once again led the Pride with 7 kills and Kylie Martin (Crown Point, Ind./Illiana Christian) stepped up defensively and led the team with 10 digs. 

Holy Family: W 3-1 (25-11, 18-25, 25-13, 25-11) 

The Pride got back on the winning track the following morning with a win against Holy Family. PNW stormed out of the gate, winning the first set 25-11. The second set was a little different as the match found the Pride getting a little too relaxed and fell behind early and stayed behind losing the second set. That, however, was the wakeup call they needed as PNW refocused and won the next 2 sets handily. Balance was the key to victory as Olivia Brooke (Logansport, Ind./Pioneer HS) who had a match high 33 assists distributed the offense evenly as Lauren Sanders (Indianapolis, Ind./Avon HS), Erica Brohm (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley HS) and Summer Clark (Chicago, Ill./Chicago Christian HS)e ended with 9 kills while Arra Cottrell (LeClaire, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) was right behind with 8 kills while hitting a match high .500. Summer Clark (Chicago, Ill./Chicago Christian HS)e also added a match high 19 digs with Kylie Marin right behind her with 15.  

American International: L 1-3 (25-20, 17-25, 22-25, 18-25) 

The last match for the Pride against American International was a highly athletic affair with a lot of highlight reel swings from both teams. The Pride stormed out of the gates once again with a 25-20 victory in the first set. The Yellow Jackets answered though with their highly athletic middle hitters taking over the game as The Pride had no answer. The third set was closely contested with 10 tied scores and 4 lead changes. AIC started wearing down the Pride from the middle again but also started getting their pins involved. In the fourth set, passing started breaking down for PNW and they couldn't recover, losing the last set 18-25. Arra Cottrell (LeClaire, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) and Alyson Dees (Tehachapi, Calif./Tehachapi (Bakersfield College)) led PNW with 10 kills each with Lauren Sanders (Indianapolis, Ind./Avon HS) and Erica Brohm (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley HS) right behind them with 9. Defensively Kylie Martin (Crown Point, Ind./Illiana Christian) had a match high 22 digs while Alyson Dees (Tehachapi, Calif./Tehachapi (Bakersfield College)) added 5 blocks. Olivia Brooke (Logansport, Ind./Pioneer HS) once again paced the offense with 28 assists. 

Coach Sean Douglas: "Overall I am extremely pleased with the weekend we had. I thought we did a great job of setting the pace in our two victories and controlled both matches. In our loss to Bentley, I felt the other team just had more time together and it showed in how they responded after we put together some good runs. They were also the best serving team we've seen so far so that is something we will work on. The American International match was a great test for us as we showed everyone what we can do when things are right when we took the first set from them. They were extremely athletic in a lot of different positions and kind of wore us out, but I was really happy with the toughness we showed in that match even though we fell short."