Box Score
WINTER PARK, Fla. – In a match that will go down in the books as one of the most compelling in the storied series history, Rollins College was pushed to the brink before prevailing over the Eckerd College volleyball program on Wednesday night, 3-2.
The Tars (8-6, 1-1 SSC) went above and beyond in the final set, 23-21, to collect their first victory in Sunshine State Conference play while snapping the Tritons' (9-2, 2-1 SSC) historic run that included a school-best nine-match win streak.
The two-hour, sixteen minute affair was reminiscent of Eckerd's heartbreaking five-set defeat last year on Oct. 9, where the teams combined for 400 attack attempts and 200 digs.
But while the Tritons had aspirations of turning the tables on Rollins this time around while approaching the same aforementioned figures, the end result was unluckily the same.
“I'm extremely proud of how our girls all night battled on the road and they left it all on the court,” EC Head Coach Courtney Draper said. “The end result is tough to come to grips with, but we understand as a team, we're making tremendous strides. It was very evenly matched and could have gone either way.”
“They (Rollins) made less errors and I think that was the difference,” she added.
The do-or-die fifth set couldn't have been scripted any better as the 15-point, win-by-two regulation rule went out the window. Rollins had five chances to put away Eckerd with a one-point lead after a 15-15 tie, but the Tritons were resilient to prolong play.
With the score tied at 21-21 following one of seven kills on the night from Lindsay Biggs, Rollins answered with consecutive kills from Camille Indest and Collyn Welsch to end it.
The Tritons had their share of momentum, taking the second set with relative ease before mounting a rally in the fourth frame by snapping a 20-20 tie with a 5-0 run, keyed by two of Alex Laton's team-best 18 kills.
Laton tied Eckerd's season-high total in kills, matching 18 spiked down from freshman Ali McAlvany against Palm Beach Atlantic University (Sept. 9)
Back-to-back kills from McAlvany had the Tritons on the verge of neutralizing the home crowd in the first game with a 22-19 edge, but the Tars came out of a timeout with four unanswered points to take the lead again and grab early momentum.
McAlvany finished with nine kills, senior Ariana Chinn reached double figures with 10 and Olivia Fraser added eight. Laton was also a force on the defensive end with seven block assists.
Rollins was paced by four players in double-digit kill totals, including a match-high 24 from Megan Hodges. The Tars had more attacking errors than the Tritons (27-24), but also had 12 more kills (71-59).
Eckerd will enjoy two days of rest before a Saturday showdown at No. 2 University of Tampa. The match is scheduled to get underway at 4 p.m.
