MELBOURNE, Fla. – Ahead 2-0 to start the match, the Eckerd volleyball team overcame a tremendous comeback Tuesday night in the Clemente Center by the Florida Tech Panthers as the Panthers' efforts would fall short with the Tritons pulling out a 15-11 win in the fifth set to defeat Tech 3-2 (28-26, 25-23, 18-25, 21-25, 15-11).
With the loss the Panthers drop to 6-5 overall and 0-3 in Sunshine State Conference play. The Tritons picked up their first conference win of the season (1-2) and improve to 7-5 overall.
Florida Tech had a 4-1 edge over EC in game five behind the service of Alexis Mastela and Janelle Branch, but the Tritons fought to stay in it and later forced a tie at 9-all. It wasn't until 11-10 that Eckerd took over the lead for the first time in the set and the visitors never looked back. Down 13-10, the Panthers called a timeout that seemed to work as Caitlyn Ballweber earned a kill to get within two. But consecutive kills by
Ariana Chinn put the match away for Eckerd.
Both teams faced two set points in an opening game in which neither team led by more than four points, though it was EC that finally capitalized on a Panther miscue to take the 1-0 advantage. After falling behind by a second set and staring down elimination, the Panthers used the eight-minute intermission to regroup and put together a stellar third set on the strength of good serving by Shelby DeNeice and Mastela, as well as six kills by Ballweber.
The Panthers used the momentum shift to get them through a fourth set in which they never gave up the lead, setting up the fateful fifth game.
Ballweber paced Tech with 21 kills on the night to go along with 12 digs, an ace and four block assists. Three other Panthers posted double-digit kills and digs and the team out blocked the Tritons 13-7 in the effort.
Lydee Benoit led Eckerd with 23 kills, adding 19 digs and three assists, while setter
Megan Golovkin put up 62 helpers. The Tritons were held to a .202 attack percentage, but capitalized on six service aces.
Eckerd returns to the hardwood on Monday, September 28 as it hosts the Rollins Tars at 7pm at the McArthur Center.
