ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The atmosphere in the McArthur Center will be electric this weekend as No. 1-ranked University of Tampa visits on Friday and Rollins College swings through on Saturday to face the Eckerd College volleyball program in key back-to-back Sunshine State Conference matches.
Tomorrow night's contest against the top-ranked Spartans is billed as “Whiteout Night” and the first 350 fans through the door will receive a free white t-shirt.
The Tritons will look to keep their 10-game win streak alive and remove the conference-leading Spartans (24-0, 11-0 SSC) from the unbeaten ranks at 7 p.m.
EC sophomore
Lindsay Biggs is the reigning SSC Offensive Player of the Week while Spartans' standout middle blocker Danielle Selkridge leads the nation in attacking percentage.
In order, Tampa, Rollins and Eckerd, are also the top three teams in the South Regional rankings as released by the NCAA earlier this week.
“There has been a different kind of focus in practice and preparation this week,” EC Head Coach Courtney Draper said. “Our girls are very excited to get on the court in front of a large home crowd and play against two of the top teams in the country.”
The storyline is fairly similar against the Tars (20-7, 8-2 SSC) from Rollins, but the winner will be in the driver's seat for second in the league standings behind Tampa.
Both Eckerd and Rollins are receiving votes in the AVCA Top-25 Coaches Poll.
Eckerd (19-3, 8-2 SSC) and Rollins have engaged in fierce, five-set battles in recent history, including a heartbreaker earlier this year in Winter Park that ended with a frenetic 23-21 fifth-set score in favor of the Tars.
The Saturday afternoon match between Eckerd and Rollins will begin at 4 p.m.
Live video with audio and live stats will be available for both matches on
www.eckerdtritons.com.
