No. 3 Sailfish Narrowly Escape Eckerd Upset Bid

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Triton volleyball team came within inches of pulling a huge upset on Saturday afternoon but ultimately fell to No. 3 Palm Beach Atlantic in five sets.

HOW IT ENDED
Final: #3 Palm Beach Atlantic 3, Eckerd 2 (17-25, 25-19, 27-25, 10-25, 11-15)
Records: Eckerd 12-9 (5-8 SSC); PBA 21-1 (13-1 SSC)
All-Time Series: Eckerd leads, 21-20

HOW IT HAPPENED
* After a series of side-outs, Eckerd held a narrow 7-6 lead in the first set.  The Sailfish won the next four points to take the lead, but EC rallied to tie the set at 11-11.  At that point, Palm Beach Atlantic took control via a pair of six-point runs.  The deficit proved too large for the Tritons as PBA won the first set comfortably, 25-17.
* Palm Beach Atlantic took an early led in set two only to see the Tritons swing the score in their favor after rolling off three straight points for a 12-10 advantage.  The Sailfish tied the set following two EC attack errors, but Eckerd then won eight of the next 10 points for a 20-14 lead.  PBA cut that lead in half on the next three rallies; however, EC regrouped and finished strong taking five of the final seven points for a 25-19 win behind the attack of Paula Hoffmann (seven kills) and Mackenzie Redner (five kills).
* The Sailfish jumped ahead early and systematically widened the gap, leading 20-13 late in the set.  Eckerd, though, was hardly ready to wave a white flag.  Behind the service of Kaitlyn Sibson, the Tritons won the next eight points to swing momentum in their favor.  Eckerd then got to set point at 24-22, but PBA won the next two rallies to force extra points.  The Tritons got to set point twice more and finished things off via kills from Fernanda Reis and Redner to go ahead two sets to one.
* The fourth set was dominated by Palm Beach Atlantic, which raced out to a 13-3 lead and refused to let up on the way to a 25-10 win.  The Sailfish hit a blistering .367 in the set while limiting Eckerd to a -.121 attack percentage.
* In the decisive fifth set, Eckerd took a 2-1 lead out of the gate but the Sailfish won seven of the next eight points.  A run of three straight points later helped the Tritons to get back within two at 11-9, but they could not get any closer as PBA survived the upset bid with a 15-11 win in the final set.

NOTES AND NUMBERS
* Kaitlyn Sibson tied her season-high with 33 digs and, in the process, became the first player in program history to reach 2000 digs for her career.  She entered the match needing only one dig to reach the milestone.
* Paula Hoffmann had her second straight double-double with 21 kills and 13 digs.  Mackenzie Redner finished with 19 kills, one short of her career high.
* Arielle Erillo posted a season-high 16 digs.
* The Sailfish upped their attack efficiency in the final two sets, hitting .367 and .333 respectively.  PBA committed only 15 attack errors for the match while the Tritons had 33.  A large part of that was attributable to Palm Beach Atlantic's net defense which combined for 19 blocks.

UP NEXT
The Tritons return home on Friday and Saturday of next weekend to host Barry (Friday, 7:00 PM) and Nova Southeastern (Saturday, 4:00 PM).  Eckerd defeated both teams on the road earlier this season.