Box Score ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, the Eckerd College volleyball team needed a pair of wins to keep its hopes of a regional tournament bid in tact.
One down, one to go.
The Tritons avenged another loss from earlier in the season with a sweep of visiting Rollins College (25-16, 25-18, 29-27) on Friday night in the McArthur Center.
Eckerd (16-13, 7-9 SSC) came out hot, taking an early lead in the first set and building a cushion with a run of five straight points to take a 17-10 lead. Rollins couldn't make a dent in the EC advantage for the rest of the set as the lead grew to as many as 10 before Eckerd finished off a 25-16 win. Balance was a major factor in the set as
Tjasa Kotnik,
Lauryn Nelson and
JaQuayla Baker all had four kills apiece.
The second set again saw the Tritons begin to gain separation thanks to a pair of extended point streaks. A run of four straight points gave EC a 14-8 lead, and another four-point run followed to make it 19-11. The Tars managed to get back within six points before EC put the set away on an emphatic Kotnik kill for a 25-18 win.
The Tritons again built a quick lead in set three, pushing ahead 9-5, and still led by four at 14-10 before the Tars fought back to narrow the gap.
Rollins took four straight points to tie the set, and later took five points in six rallies to get to set point at 24-23. A kill by Kotnik kept Eckerd alive and sent the set into extra points with each team fighting off set point twice before the Tritons completed the sweep via a Nelson kill and a
Kaitlyn Sibson ace.
Head coach
Michelle Piantadosi was very pleased with her team's defense, which totaled 66 digs and limited Rollins to a .081 hitting percentage.
"Our defense was outstanding tonight," she said. "The girls just decided nothing was going to hit the floor."
Kotnik had 17 kills on the night, bringing her closer to the 1000-career kill mark with 977. She also recorded her 15th double-double of the season, adding 12 digs.
Emily Schadow joined Kotnik with her own double-double of 33 assists and 10 digs.
Nelson and Baker rounded out the attack with 11 and 10 kills respectively while
Mackenzie Redner had seven. Sibson continued her pursuit of 1000 career digs, leading the defense with 17. She needs now 17 digs to reach the century mark and became only the second player in Eckerd program history to eclipse 500 digs in a season with tonight's performance.
Gabriella Reis was also solid on the back row with 14 digs.
The Tritons wrap up the regular season with an important match on Saturday, hosting Embry-Riddle (Fla.) at 4:00 PM. It will also be senior day for the program's two seniors, Kotnik and Schadow.
