Tritons Fall at SSC Leader Saint Leo, 3-1

Box Score SAINT LEO, Fla. - Saint Leo University maintained its hold on the top spot in the Sunshine State Conference on Tuesday, avenging an earlier loss by handing the Eckerd volleyball team a 3-1 defeat (21-25, 25-18, 24-26, 23-25).

The third and fourth sets were almost carbon copies of the way things went during the first meeting between the teams in September, though this time it broke in favor of Saint Leo.  In the first contest, the Tritons won all three sets by two points.  Tonight, the Lions edged Eckerd by two in the last two sets.

In all three of Eckerd's set losses, the Tritons found themselves facing big deficits.  A four-point run gave SLU a 16-10 lead in the opening set before EC cut the deficit down to two at 23-21 following three consecutive points that included kills by JaQuayla Baker and Katie Arnette.  The Lions, however, were able to close the set by taking the next two points.

Eckerd (15-9, 7-4 SSC) raced out to a big lead in the second set behind a run of seven straight points, taking advantage of five Saint Leo errors, and extended the lead to as many as 13 points before evening the match with a 25-18 win in the set.  The Tritons' defense was a big factor, holding the Lions to a .000 hitting percentage in the second frame.

In the third set, SLU (17-8, 9-2 SSC) took control midway through and built a 15-9 lead before the Tritons slowly chipped away to eventually break set point and tie the set at 24-24 after a kill by Kali Boatwright and a Lion attack error.  But as they did in the first set, the Lions won the next two points to take a 2-1 edge in the match.

The Tritons again had to fight from behind in the fourth set after Saint Leo took the first six points, all as a result of Eckerd errors.  EC slowly cut into the Lions' lead and fought back from a 20-14 deficit to pull within a point at 24-23.  However, a kill from SLU's Hope Lemon secured another two-point set win and closed the match for the conference leaders.

The win keeps Saint Leo alone in first place in the SSC standings while the loss drops Eckerd into a tie for third with Florida Southern, which lost to Tampa tonight.

Three Tritons reached double digits in kills led by Boatwright with 11 while Baker and Arnette each had 10.  Fernanda Reis posted 21 assists while Gabriella Reis had 20.  Kaitlyn Sibson recorded a match-high 26 digs to pace the back row; Arielle Erillo and Keri McMahon each added 10 digs.

Eckerd travels to Barry on Friday at 7:00 PM and Lynn on Saturday at 4:00 PM.