TAMPA, Fla. - The Eckerd volleyball team (9-7, 3-4 SSC) could not carry any momentum from its thrilling, five-set victory on Saturday at Florida Southern, losing to the ninth-ranked Tampa Spartans (15-2, 6-1 SSC) by a score of 3-0 (25-12, 25-19, 25-21) on Tuesday evening at Tampa's Bob Martinez Center.
The first set got off to an inauspicious start as the Tritons made five attack errors to dig themselves a 10-5 hole. After a timeout taken by Eckerd, the Tritons scored back-to-back points only to see Tampa increase its lead to 16-8 on a kill by Kaleigh Cunningham. The Spartans would go on to outscore Eckerd 9-4 the rest of the set for an easy 25-12 victory.
In the set, Tampa hit a blistering .448 attack percentage while Eckerd was limited to -.091, committing nine attack errors against just six kills. Cunningham led all players with five kills in the set while
Lydee Benoit tallied three for the Tritons.
In the second set, the Tritons rebounded in a big way, going on an 11-4 run, capped by a kill by
Ariana Chinn, after going down 0-2 to take an 11-6 lead Tampa, however, would go on an 11-5 run of their own, paced by three kills by Daniel Selkridge, to take regain the lead, 17-16. Tampa would go to outscore Eckerd 8-3 for a 25-19 victory.
In the second set, Eckerd's offense improved to the tune of .167 but the Tritons did little to slow down the Spartans' offense, which hit .429., led by Jessica Yingling who amassed five kills.
In the third set, the Tritons stayed within three points of the Spartans throughout the set until a kill by Sam Macks clinched a 25-21 victory.
For the match, Tampa hit at an impressive .473 clip while the Tritons hit just .121. Cunningham led all players with 11 kills while Benoit led Eckerd with 10.
Eckerd will return to action on Saturday, October 10 as it travels to Miami Shores, Fla. to battle the Barry Buccaneers at 4pm at the Health and Sports Center.
