PALO CEDRO, CA – In their first ever appearance at the Northern Section championships, the Princeton Eagles saw their dream of making school history fall short in 25-15, 13-25, 26-28, 11-25 loss to Hayfork in the Division VII title match on Nov. 9 at Foothill High School.
Coming into the contest against the Timberjacks, the No. 1 seeded Eagles had been riding a five-game win streak, but despite taking the first set with relative ease by dominating play at the net, they never regained their early rhythm, committing unforced errors that ultimately sealed their fate.
Princeton did make a strong comeback bid in the third set, but scrappy, No. 2 seeded Hayfork out-scrambled the Eagles to turn the tide of the match in their favor.
Sissy Winn had a strong outing for Princeton making seven solo blocks and recording five kills, Reyna Sullivan finished with six aces, six kills and seven digs, while Lupe Espinoza handed out 14 assists.
Playing in her final match for the green and white, libero Mariel Parra made 22 digs.
Although Princeton didn’t achieve the desired outcome, Coach Lisa Pence was more than satisfied with her team’s performance this season and sees a bright future ahead.
“I couldn’t be prouder of this team, it’s the best group of girls I could ask for,” said Pence, who is in her inaugural season at the helm of the Eagles. “It’s really an honor to play for a section championship, especially for the first time ever. We tensed up a little bit today, but at the same time, there is a winner and a loser and its ok. This team has come such a long way. We will lose several seniors, but we have a big group coming up from the junior high and while we’ll have to make some adjustments, we will make it work.”
To get to the title match Princeton knocked off No. 4 Westwood 25-8, 25-12, 25-14 in a match on Nov. 5.
Espinoza facilitated the offense distributing 15 assists, while Sullivan registered 10 kills, Mackenzie Wills added eight more and Jada Dillard finished with a team-high six digs.
The Eagles finished the year as the Pioneer League co-champion with an overall record of 18-10.