Box Score
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – After a minor letdown in the first set, the Eckerd College volleyball program bounced back strong to defeat Barry University at home on Saturday, 3-1 (26-28, 25-18, 25-10, 25-16) in the McArthur Center.
Junior setter
Madison Burr continued to march up the school record books, moving into sixth all-time in career assists, while junior outside hitter
Lindsay Biggs closed in on another offensive milestone.
Burr set her teammates up for 30 assists on the afternoon, giving her 1,649 in her career to date. She officially passed Alex Arendell (2003-2005), who logged 1,624 assists in her time at Eckerd.
Burr came into the season ranked 10th all-time in career assists. She frustrated the Barry defense with a pair of service aces and an additional eight digs.
Biggs smashed down a match-high 19 kills against the Buccaneers (10-9, 3-5 SSC) and now has recorded 953 kills in her illustrious career, taking another step to joining the elite 1,000 kill club.
She is on the verge of become just the eighth Triton hitter to reach 1,000 kills in her career and the first since
Ariana Chinn (2008-2011) did it last year with 1,009.
With Florida Southern College and Rollins College each at 5-3 in Sunshine State Conference play, the Tritons (12-7, 6-2 SSC) locked in their current position at second in the league standings only behind No. 5 University of Tampa.
Barry's offense was clicking early on thanks to lefty setter Mima Hajdukovic catching Eckerd off guard with a number of “dump” kills by the net. The Buccaneers ran their offense to a .438 percentage and fought off match point in the first frame.
Hajdukovic tallied nine kills and 35 assists as a double-threat for Barry. Ashley Carrero led the Buccaneers with 10 kills.
The Tritons regrouped and mustered an 11-3 run to open the second set. Eckerd led wire-to-wire to make things all square at one set apiece.
Eckerd then put together a 13-3 run in the third set, combining stingy defense and a potent offensive attack to keep the Buccaneers reeling. The Tritons ran off seven unanswered points to take the 2-1 lead.
After hitting .360 in the third set, Eckerd's offense ran to the tune of an even .500 to close out the win, recording 14 kills on just 22 swings as a team in the final frame.
Senior
Taylor Whaley finished with 11 kills on 18 attempts (.556), sophomore
Ali McAlvany hammered down 10 more and senior
Olivia Fraser added nine. Fraser, senior
Alex Laton and sophomore
Katarina Milojevic, accounted for three blocks each.
The Tritons exploited Barry's unstable serve receive, managing 11 service aces, including four by Biggs. Junior libero
Kaleigh Humphrey led the Tritons with 10 digs.
Eckerd will use the next week to prepare for the Red Elephant Café South Regional hosted by Tampa in the Martinez Center. The Tritons will face Christian Brothers (Tenn.) University on Friday before taking on Valdosta State (Ga.) University and No. 23 University of West Florida on Saturday.
