Box Score
TAMPA, Fla. – A storybook season and unprecedented postseason run came to an end on Saturday night as the second-seeded Eckerd College volleyball program was swept by the University of Tampa in the NCAA Tournament South Regional final, 0-3 (23-25, 20-25, 16-25).
But the Tritons' (27-5 overall) record-setting fall campaign won't be soon forgotten in the eyes of their fans, capped by earning the program's first-ever trip to the Sweet 16 after toppling No. 3 Rollins College and No. 7 Christian Brothers University in opening and second-round matchups.
Eckerd had played 10 grueling sets the past two days, while host Tampa took care of business against No. 8 Kentucky State University and No. 5 Florida Southern College in the minimum six sets.
Following tonight's match,
Olivia Fraser,
Lindsay Biggs and
Ariana Chinn, were each named to the South Region All-Tournament Team.
For Second-Team All-SSC selections Chinn,
Bri Smith and
Hallie Ward, it closed the final chapter on their illustrious four-year careers. Chinn had a team-high 12 kills while Ward recorded a dozen digs and Smith tallied 15 assists, in their final match.
The Tritons gave the Spartans all they could handle in the first set, but thanks to a huge night by SSC Player of the Danielle Selkridge and her 15 kills, Tampa's offense picked up a head of steam and couldn't be stopped.
After lighting up Rollins College last night with a career-high 21 kills, Biggs riddled the Tampa defense for seven kills in the first set alone.
Eckerd was within striking distance despite trailing most of the first set before a 4-0 run tied the score at 22-22 and the Tritons forced Tampa to burn both timeouts. But after the score was again knotted at 23-all, a service error and a Holly Reschke kill gave UT a 1-0 lead.
A 16-16 tie was snapped by the Spartans in the second set with a 7-0 run to put the Tritons in an 0-2 deficit.
The second-set surge proved to be the turning point and Tampa raced out to a 5-1 lead to begin the third set. The Spartans' lead swelled to eight when EC used its final timeout and Selkridge ripped another kill that set the stage for the final point of the evening and a completed sweep.
With an uncharacteristic amount of unforced errors on the offensive side, the Tritons offense ran to the tune of .107 percentage in the final frame.
Tampa improved to 32-1 on the year to advance to the Elite Eight.
