Tritons Snap Skid with Four-Set Win over Nova Southeastern

Box Score FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The Eckerd College volleyball team broke a four-match losing streak in impressive fashion, knocking off Nova Southeastern on Friday night in four sets (26-24, 25-11, 22-25, 25-22).

The win gave the Tritons (14-13, 5-9) a regular-season sweep over the Sharks (18-11, 8-6), who entered the night in second place in the Sunshine State Conference standings.

Eckerd closed out strong in the first set, overcoming a 22-20 deficit to get to set point.  NSU forced the set into extra points with a Dana Holger kill, but EC followed with kills from JaQuayla Baker and Tjasa Kotnik to take the opener.

The Tritons dominated the second set after NSU took a 7-6 lead with three consecutive points.  Eckerd followed by rolling off 13 straight points behind the service of Baker, who had three aces during the run.  EC then finished off the set by taking points on six of the last seven rallies.

NSU bounced back to take the third set and extend the match, although a late Triton rally almost put the outcome of the set in question.  The Sharks held a 23-14 lead, aided by 13 EC errors, but Eckerd made things uncomfortable for the hosts by taking the next five points, then three more after Nova Southeastern got to set point.  NSU, though, put the set away on a Denvyr Tyler-Palmer kill.

Eckerd was again at its strongest during the final rallies of the fourth set.  Nova Southeastern pushed ahead for a 16-11 lead and seemed in prime position to send the match to a fifth set before, once again, the Tritons stepped up their play.  EC quickly erased the deficit to tie the set at 17-17 behind three kills and a block assist by Baker.

The set remained tight as the teams swapped points until the Tritons closed out the match by taking the final four rallies of the set.

The Eckerd attack was highly efficient for the majority of the night, hitting .331 as a team with 59 kills.  Tjasa Kotnik led the way with a match-high 24 kills while Baker added 12 and Lauryn Nelson added 10.  Emily Schadow posted 44 assists while Kaitlyn Sibson (22), Gabriella Reis (12) and Arielle Erillo (12) all had double-digits in digs.

The Tritons finish off the road trip on Saturday visiting Lynn University for a 4:00 PM match.