***
Madison Burr and
Lindsay Biggs were both selected to the Eckerd College Classic All-Tournament Team***
Box Score
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd College volleyball program put away a scrappy University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras squad in straight sets to finalize the Eckerd College Classic on Saturday night in the McArthur Center, 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-22).
The 10th and last match of the tournament between the Tritons (5-2, 0-0 SSC) and Gallitos (3-1 overall) took center stage after both teams came in unbeaten following respective victories during Friday's action.
Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras defeated Sunshine State Conference affiliates Nova Southeastern University and Barry University to go along with a first-day sweep vs. Bentley (Mass.) University. EC posted straight-set winning decisions against Wilmington (Del.) University and Bentley yesterday.
The Tritons flexed their muscle along the front line as sophomore
Tjasa Kotnik, junior
Katarina Milojevic and junior
Grace Jones, grounded the explosive Rio Piedras offense between a balanced combination of blocking and attacking.
Kotnik helped put away UPR in the third and final frame while totaling a season-high 10 kills with a pair of service aces and trio of assisted blocks. Milojevic had six blocks and six kills and Jones had three blocks, including a pivotal rejection against the Gallitos' Jarilis Torres to prompt a visitor timeout in the third set.
Torres packed a powerful punch from the outside and led her team with 17 kills. She tallied 15 last year against the Tritons in the South/Southeast Region Challenge in Savannah, Ga.
Sophomore setter
Emily Schadow emerged with a career-high 34 assists (previous best of 28 vs. Chestnut Hill College) and 10 digs to go with three crafty kills. She was making the start in the absence of senior
Madison Burr, who was sidelined with an injury suffered on Friday.
Senior outside hitter
Lindsay Biggs led Eckerd with 13 kills to complement another strong hitting percentage of .400. Junior outside
Ali McAlvany contributed nine kills as the team hit .297 on the evening.
The first two sets continued to alternate back and forth with both teams exchanging 14 ties in the first set and 11 more ties in the second frame. Five lead changes were switched in both the second and third sets.
Eckerd snapped a 21-21 tie in the first set with a 4-1 run. The second set was tied at 22-all before the Tritons rattled off three of the next four points, culminating with a UPR ball-handling error. EC led by as many as six points in the final set as Kotnik put down the final kill at match/set point.
Eckerd is idle for the next five days before facing Cedarville (Ohio) University on a neutral court in the Bowman Center at Saint Leo University on Friday, Sept. 20, at 4 p.m.
