Lynn Hands Tritons Fourth Straight Loss

Box Score BOCA RATON, Fla. - The Eckerd volleyball team dropped its fourth straight match on Saturday, falling at Lynn University in four sets (26-24, 24-26, 23-25, 14-25).

The first three sets were all closely contested with each decided by two-point margins and the first two going into extra points.

The afternoon started off well for Eckerd (15-11, 7-6 SSC), which fought off set point in the opener winning three straight points capped by a tandem block from Kali Boatwright and JaQuayla Baker.  The Tritons also used an efficient attack in the set to take the win, hitting. 265 in the frame with 13 kills.

Lynn returned the favor in the second set after a solo block by Baker put EC on the cusp of taking a 2-0 lead.  The Fighting Knights (17-9, 8-5 SSC) got kills from Morgan Delaney on both sides of an Eckerd attack error to square the match at one set apiece with a 26-24 set win.

The third set was equally as tight with neither team holding more than a two-point lead until Lynn edged ahead by four points at 22-18.  Eckerd, though, claimed points on the next three rallies via kills from Keri McMahon, Sarah Johnshoy and Mackenzie Redner to pull back within one.  The Knights, however, never surrendered the lead and took a 2-1 advantage in the match after another two-point set victory.

Lynn put the match away thanks to a run of eight consecutive points in the fourth set, turning a 13-12 lead into a sizable nine-point cushion.  Eckerd struggled to produce on the attack in the set with only three kills and a -.094 hitting percentage.

Boatwright led the EC attack with 14 kills while Baker had 11 and Redner added nine.  Gabriella Reis assisted on 37 of the team's 40 kills.  Kaitlyn Sibson led a trio of Tritons with double-digit digs, recording 23, while Boatwright had 17 and Arielle Erillo posted 12.

The loss drops Eckerd into sixth place in the Sunshine State Conference standings, though the Tritons remain only 1.5 games out of third.

Eckerd returns to the floor on Tuesday with a visit to Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach, Florida.