SAINT LEO, Fla. –
Ariana Chinn notched a season-high 17 kills and the Eckerd College volleyball team brought down another Sunshine State Conference opponent in Saint Leo University on Tuesday night, 3-2 (25-18, 15-25, 25-20, 24-26, 15-7).
Thanks to back-to-back service aces from
Taylor Whaley, Eckerd scratched out a 6-1 lead to begin the fifth and final set. The Lions (7-8, 3-4 SSC) took advantage of an uncharacteristic five straight Tritons' attacking errors toward the end of the fourth game to tie and prolong the match.
In addition to the pair of aces, Whaley also scattered a timely block and kill in the fifth set. She sparked the EC offense with seven kills on just 11 swings in a key reserve role.
With the nail-biting win, Eckerd (12-3, 5-2 SSC) separated itself from a three-way tie in the league standings to take hold of solo second place, trailing only No. 2 University of Tampa.
“I told our team we've got to have a good serving and passing game if we were going to win (going into the final set),” EC Head Coach Courtney Draper said. “It's so hard to get a win on the road in this conference. While we were far from flawless, we were good enough to get the win in a tough environment.”
The Tritons and Lions went back-and-forth and the attacking percentages for both respective clubs reflected who had the upper hand.
Eckerd hit a scorching .429 in the opening set but followed with a -.033 clip, including eight errors, as Saint Leo won the second frame by a 10-point margin.
The Tritons had a chance to put away Saint Leo in the fourth set, leading 18-14 before a Lions' timeout. Eckerd even built on to that advantage and with the Tritons needing just one point to ice the match with a 24-19 lead, gave up six unanswered points as SLU made an improbable rally.
But the errors plagued Saint Leo to start the final frame and the Lions were reeling after three straight attacking miscues.
“We had a pretty specific game plan coming into tonight,” Draper said. “No. 7 (Emily Calderon-Reyes) is one of the best passers in the conference and they can really run their middles and put up a lot of kills. We were just able to execute better down the stretch.”
Reigning SSC Offensive Player of the Week
Alex Laton added 13 kills and eight assisted blocks for the Tritons, who have won three in a row.
Senior
Bri Smith recorded a double-double with 29 assists and a team-best 13 digs from her setter position. The Tritons had 20 assisted blocks, paced by Laton's eight, and served up eight total aces.
SLU's Meghan Donovan led all players with 18 kills.
The Tritons continue their conference road swing later this week, heading to Lakeland for a key showdown against Florida Southern College on Friday at 7 p.m.
