Piantadosi-Lima Wins 100th as Tritons Handle Rollins in Four Sets

WINTER PARK, Fla. - Payback was sweet for the Eckerd volleyball team on Friday night as the Tritons avenged an earlier loss to Rollins College and earned head coach Michelle Piantadosi-Lima her 100th career win in the process.

HOW IT ENDED
Final: Eckerd 3, Rollins 1 (25-17, 25-27, 25-19, 25-20)
Records: Eckerd 12-8 (5-7 SSC); Rollins 8-12 (5-8 SSC)
All-Time Series: Rollins leads, 54-24

HOW IT HAPPENED
* Eckerd quickly took control in the opening set, racing out to an 11-5 lead while taking advantage of seven errors by the Tars.  Rollins managed to pull within three after taking points on five of six rallies but three more attack errors were part of a 4-0 run that extended EC's lead to 19-12.  The Tritons remained in control for the rest of the set, putting away five kills and an ace for their final six points in a comfortable 25-17 win.
* The second set saw Rollins take early leads only for Eckerd to come back and tie the score.  The Tritons tied the set seven times before taking a late lead at 18-17.  However, Rollins won the five of the next six points to move ahead by three.  Once again, Eckerd battled back to tie the set at 23-23 and survived set point twice.  The Tritons couldn't do it a third time, though, as Rollins tied the match at one set apiece with a 27-25 win.
* A pair of four-point runs early in the third set gave the Tritons two four-point leads, but Rollins overcame the deficit both times to tie the set.  Three straight points for the Tars knotted the set at 13-13 before Eckerd took command late.  EC won nine of the final 13 points of the set including the last three on kills from Mackenzie Redner and Madison Whiting for a 2-1 match lead.
* Rollins held the lead for the majority of the fourth set, still enjoying a 19-16 scoreboard advantage late in the set.  However, as they did early in the match, the Tars hindered themselves with errors committing four in the next five rallies as Eckerd went ahead, 21-19.  Rollins got a side-out to pull within a point, but the Tritons finished strong again by winning the last four points of the set.  Stephanie Karlovics aided the effort with a pair of block assists helping Eckerd take the set, 25-20, for a 3-1 win.

NOTES AND NUMBERS
* Piantadosi-Lima's victory tonight was the 100th of her career.  All of her wins have come at Eckerd.  She is the second coach in program history to reach the century mark, joining Courtney Draper (145 wins).
* Paula Hoffmann had a big performance with her seventh double-double of the season, tallying a match-high 18 kills and 16 digs.  Redner had 17 kills as the Tritons hit .226, the team's best attack percentage since September 30.
* Eckerd also had its second-highest point total for the season in a four-set match with 73.
* Kaitlyn Sibson finished the night with 22 digs, leaving her one short of 2000 digs for her career.
* Fernanda Reis had 46 assists, marking the 10th time this season in which she had surpassed 40 assists in a match.

QUOTABLE
"The team really came together tonight.  It wasn't our best performance but what was so impressive is that we played with such unity.  Mackenzie and Paula were outstanding tonight and that enabled us to set up the offense around them. It's been a privilege to achieve [100 wins] with these girls and at Eckerd College." - Head Coach Michelle Piantadosi-Lima

UP NEXT
The Tritons face a tall task on Saturday, traveling to take on No. 2 Palm Beach Atlantic at 4:00 PM.  The Sailfish dropped their first match of the season on Friday, losing at home to Saint Leo in five sets.