DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Eckerd volleyball team battled back from a two-set deficit in its final match of the weekend at the Bahama Inn Labor Day Invitational, taking the final three sets from McKendree - including a 15-13 set five victory - to complete the comeback for a perfect weekend heading into Sunshine State Conference play.
HOW IT ENDED
Final: Eckerd 3, McKendree 2 (14-25, 18-25, 25-16, 25-18, 15-13)
Records: Eckerd 5-2, McKendree 3-5
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Tritons struggled on the attack in the early stages of the first set, due in part to blocking of McKendree. The Bearcats tallied four blocks and held Eckerd to a .111 hitting percentage while the trio of Hope Gramly, Elle Russell, and Megan Marks led an attack that hit .571, adding up to a dominant 25-14 win for McKendree.
- Eckerd overcame an early deficit in set two, tying the set at 12-12, but McKendree won the next seven points. The Tritons were unable to recover while struggling with errors, committing 11 in the set and hitting .051, as the Bearcats took a 2-0 match lead with a 25-18 set win.
- McKendree again took an early lead in the third set at 9-5, but EC responded with four straight points to tie the set. The two teams stayed close over the next 14 rallies with six ties before the Tritons took control. Behind the service of Paula Hoffmann, Eckerd won the last nine points of the rest while getting three kills from Asya Harris to stay alive with a 25-16 win.
- A 6-1 start to the fourth set established the tone for the Tritons. McKendree managed to get within one point later in the set, but Eckerd pulled away leading by as many as eight before sending the match to a fifth set with a 25-18 set win.
- McKendree went on an early four-point run to take a 5-3 fifth-set lead, but EC responded with its own four-point swing to take an 8-7 lead at the bench change. The Bearcats went back ahead at 12-11 before Eckerd closed the match taking four of the last five points. Â Tied 13-13, an Abbie O'Ferrell kill from the left side got the Tritons to set point and Harris finished with a kill from the same spot to clinch the victory.
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- After hitting poorly in the first two sets with a combined 14 errors, Eckerd committed only nine attack errors for the remainder of the match.
- Payton Meader tallied a new career-high in kills with 11 while adding five blocks.
- Harris led the Triton attack with 16 kills. O'Ferrell came up big later in the match with eight of her 11 kills coming in the final two sets.
- Fernanda Reis had 49 assists and tied her career-high in blocks with five.
- Eckerd is 1-1 in five-set matches thus far this season.
UP NEXT
The Tritons visit No. 23 Florida Southern to open conference play on Tuesday, September 4, at 7:00 PM.
