Tritons Remain Perfect on Opening Weekend

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Eckerd volleyball team completed a perfect weekend while hosting its annual invitational tournament, scoring another pair of straight-sets wins over St. Edward's (Texas) and Notre Dame (Ohio) on Saturday in the McArthur Center.

The Tritons first knocked off SEU by pulling away late in each set, then breezed in the first two sets against Notre Dame before rallying for a 26-24 win to stay unblemished during the opening weekend of the season.

HOW IT ENDED
Final (Game 1): Eckerd 3, St. Edward's 0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-20)
Records: Eckerd 3-0, St. Edward's 3-1
All-Time Series: Eckerd leads, 1-0

Final (Game 2): Eckerd 3, Notre Dame 0 (25-13, 25-17, 26-24)
Records: Eckerd 4-0, Notre Dame 2-2
All-Time Series: Eckerd leads, 1-0

HOW IT HAPPENED (vs. SEU)
- The first set saw eight ties and four lead changes before the Tritons created a small cushion behind three straight kills - one by Abbie O'Ferrell and two by Madison Whiting - to take a 16-13 lead.  EC held the lead for the remainder of the set, though SEU managed to pull back within a point on three occasions.  Each time, however, Eckerd responded with a kill and eventually closed the set by taking four of the final five points.  The last three of those points came on errors by the Hilltoppers.
- Eckerd raced out to a 5-1 lead to open the second set, but SEU whittled away the advantage.  The Hilltoppers rolled off four straight points to move ahead at 11-9 before the Tritons answered with points on seven of the next eight rallies.  St. Edward's prevented EC from adding to its margin, fighting back to tie the set at 19-19.  A Whiting kill broke the tie and, behind the service of Arielle Erillo, Eckerd rolled off four more points with two O'Ferrell kills and two Erillo aces to reach set point.  After SEU stayed alive with two points, another O'Ferrell kill gave the Tritons a 2-0 match lead.
- In the third set, St. Edwards built a 7-2 lead before Eckerd settled down and tied the set at 8-8 following three straight points.  From there, the set featured five ties and three lead changes until the Tritons took points on five of six rallies for a 19-15 lead.  SEU pulled back within one, but another run of three consecutive Eckerd points put the team in position to close out the match.  The Tritons finished off the sweep taking the final two points on a tandem block by Payton Meader and Paula Hoffmann and a Hoffman kill.

HOW IT HAPPENED (vs. Notre Dame)
- Eckerd used a run of six straight points early in set one to take a commanding 11-4 lead and never let up, extending the advantage to as many as 13 points.  EC hit a blistering .448 in the set with 15 kills on 29 attempts.
- Another long scoring run helped construct another big lead early in set two.  Behind the service of Kali Boatwright, the Tritons rolled off seven straight points for a 15-5 advantage.  Eckerd controlled things for the rest of the set, still maintaining a 10-point lead late before NDC tallied three straight points to stave off set point.  However, a Falcon attack error sealed the set victory for the Tritons.
- Utilizing a handful of new rotations, Eckerd found itself in a much closer contest in the third set.  After Notre Dame took an early lead, the set was very much a see-saw affair with 12 ties and eight lead changes.  The Falcons reached set point first at 24-23 but gave it away on an attack error.  That opened the door for Eckerd to finish off the match, getting to set point on a kill by Sarah Johnshoy before another attack error sealed the win for EC.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- The Tritons had three double-doubles in the first match of the day.  O'Ferrell led the attack with 16 kills while adding 12 digs.  Hoffmann had 12 kills and 14 digs, and Fernanda Reis had 28 assists and 11 digs.
- Eckerd's attack against Notre Dame was very balanced.  No one reached double-digit in kills, but nine players recorded at least two kills in the match.
- Sibson, who broke the program's career digs record last night, finished the weekend with 72 digs - an average of 6.0 per set.

NOTABLE
- Kaitlyn Sibson, Abbie O'Ferrell and Paula Hoffmann were named to the all-tournament team.
- The win over Notre Dame marked the 500th win in Triton volleyball history.

QUOTABLE
"It was a great weekend.  The team came ready to play and took care of business.  I'm very proud of each person's being ready to come in and contribute.  We will build off of this success and focus on improving for next weekend's matches." - EC head coach Michelle Piantadosi-Lima

UP NEXT
- The Tritons head to Winter Haven for the Rollins College Invitational, where they will play three matches on Friday and Saturday of next week.