ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd College volleyball team channeled leftover adrenaline from toppling the nation's top-ranked team last night into another memorable five-set win over a resilient Rollins College squad on Saturday, 3-2 (25-14, 20-25, 21-25, 25-22, 15-10).
And the emotions were still running plenty high after the Tritons (21-3, 10-2 SSC) dethroned No. 1 University of Tampa on Friday in a five-set thriller, but avenging a regular-season loss against the Tars (20-8, 8-3 SSC) was just as important on EC's agenda.
The Tritons rallied back from a 2-1 deficit to win their 12th straight and earn a little more breathing room for second place in the Sunshine State Conference standings.
Both Eckerd and Rollins had received votes in latest edition of the AVCA Top-25 Coaches Poll.
“We had to maintain focus and realize that today was just as important as last night,” EC senior libero
Hallie Ward said. “We needed to validate our win (against Tampa) and this was a huge match for us because they (Rollins) beat us last time.”
If history taught volleyball enthusiasts a lesson based on previous meetings, it came as no surprise that Eckerd and Rollins went through another barnburner.
Ward dug out a team-high 26 attack attempts from the opposition and kept several key possessions alive late in the final frame. The Tritons led wire-to-wire in the final set, closing it out with a 4-0 run to put away the Tars.
Sophomore and current SSC Offensive Player of the Week
Lindsay Biggs continued her recent torrid streak, recording 18 kills on an eye-popping .485 attacking percentage with 12 digs.
Alex Laton swatted 13 more to go along with six blocks while
Ariana Chinn and
Ali McAlvany each had 10 kills.
Maija Strazdina elevated over the Rollins frontline for a pair of key kills in the fifth set as she finished with seven on just 17 swings in two frames of work.
Eckerd caught Rollins off guard early on, racing out to a 12-2 run in the first set to force the Tars to burn both timeouts and went on to clinch by a 25-14 decision.
Rollins didn't hit the greatest in the second set, just a .209 clip, but earned a 25-20 win to tie before getting the offense in sync at a .333 percentage in the third set for the go-ahead point.
The Tritons had to work around 25 kills from Megan Hodges, who had 64 attack attempts, more than double the total of any player on the court. Camille Indest charged the Rollins surge in the second and third sets as she finished with 15 kills.
The Tritons outblocked Rollins, 10-4. McAlvany had five assisted blocks while
Olivia Fraser and Chinn each helped send back three.
The Tritons are back at home to continue league play next week, hosting Saint Leo University on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. affair in the McArthur Center.
