Box Score
MELBOURNE, Fla. – After exchanging glancing blows all evening, the Eckerd College volleyball program delivered the final knockout shot in a decisive fifth frame to hand Florida Tech a Sunshine State Conference loss on Friday evening, 3-2 (17-25, 25-20, 25-16, 18-25, 15-13).
Sophomore right side
Tjasa Kotnik punctuated a back-and-forth final set that featured five ties and three lead changes with the final kill of the night to end gripping suspense at a neutral venue.
The Tritons (12-8, 3-4 SSC) and Panthers (14-7, 4-4 SSC) tangled at Palm Bay High School as the two-hour, seven-minute affair went down to the wire.
The Tritons were idle for nearly a week following the University of West Florida Regional Crossover in Pensacola, but delivered a resilient road effort as the first half of conference play winds down to a close.
"I thought we needed to focus on terminating and we had to find a way to produce offensively," said EC Head Coach
Michelle Piantadosi. "Our block was huge for us. We were so organized and continued to talk about it as we watched film. Florida Tech plays a very fast game, a unique style of volleyball, and we had to come in with that organization."
"When we got a dig defensively, it was a dig to a kill," she added. "I was very proud of how focused we were on the game plan."
Florida Tech captured the first and fourth sets while the Eckerd countered with second and third-frame triumphs to set the stage to break the 2-2 tie.
Paced by reigning SSC Defensive Player of the Week presented by VALIC
Katarina Milojevic, the Tritons' frontline combined for 18 total blocks, including a pair of solos and nine assisted rejections by the junior middle.
Senior
Lindsay Biggs, who eclipsed 1,000 career kills the last time she faced Florida Tech, led the Tritons with 16 kills in addition to a dozen digs and junior
Ali McAlvany added 11 kills.
Kotnik balanced the box score with nine kills and seven more blocks. Junior
Grace Jones nearly matched her defensive production with a solo block and helped on five others.
Senior setter
Madison Burr set the table with 29 assists, senior libero
Kaleigh Humphrey dug out 17 attack attempts and sophomore setter
Emily Schadow controlled the service with four aces to complement 10 assists.
Eckerd took a 6-4 lead early in the fifth set but both teams would lock up at a 12-12 score in the late stages.
The Tritons split the tie with kills from McAlvany and Kotnik before overcoming a Panther sideout to nail down the final point.
Charlie French paced Florida Tech's offense with 13 kills with Angie Lassman recording a match-high 28 digs.
The Tritons will rest to face Barry University in Miami Shores tomorrow afternoon for a 4 p.m. showdown. Saturday's match against the Buccaneers officially closes out the first half of the SSC schedule.
