ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A slow start turned into a furious finish for the Eckerd volleyball team as the Tritons earned their first win in conference play after defeating Florida Southern in four sets in the McArthur Center on Saturday afternoon.
FSC took the first set, 25-22, before Eckerd squared the match at a set apiece with a 25-22 win in the second set. After the extended break, the Tritons dominated the remainder of the match with 25-15 and 25-19 wins in the last two sets.
HOW IT ENDED
Final: Eckerd 3, Florida Southern 1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-15, 25-10)
Records: Eckerd 8-2 (1-1 SSC); Florida Southern 2-7 (0-2 SSC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Neither team was able to put together more than two consecutive points in the first set until the Tritons got three straight to take an 11-10 lead - their first of the match - following a Sydney Case ace. However, the Mocs responded with five straight points behind the service of Beatrice Formilan for a 15-11 lead and did not trail for the rest of the set. EC briefly pulled with two points before Florida Southern grew its lead to six at 21-15. The Tritons won the next four points to get back within two but could not further close the gap as FSC went up 1-0.
- The second set resembled the first in that neither team was able to build a lead of more than two points in the early stages. The lead swapped hands five times before the Tritons won four straight points following a timeout, bookmarked by two Sarah Johnshoy kills. FSC rallied to tie the score three times before Eckerd inched ahead after an Agata Sklepik kill and two Moccasin attack errors. Florida Southern pulled within a point at 22-21 but the Tritons took three of the last four points to take the set.
- The Tritons used an early six-point run in the third set to take a 11-5 lead, and never looked back from that point forward. Eckerd took points on 11 of 14 rallies to push the advantage to 12 points (22-10) and cruised to a 25-15 set win.
- The trend continued in the fourth set. Eckerd took a quick 9-4 lead and, after the Mocs narrowed the deficit to three, won five straight points for a 15-7 advantage. Florida Southern found no answer to the quick and efficient Triton attack as EC won nine of the final 10 points to complete a four-set win.
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- The win for Eckerd snapped a five-match losing streak against the Mocs. Eckerd's last win over FSC came on September 17, 2016, in five sets at home.
- After hitting .056 in the first set, Eckerd improved to hit .250 in the second set. It continued to rise from there with a .333 effort in the third set and a .478 effort in the fourth set with 12 kills and only one error.
- Asya Harris led the attack with 17 kills. Sarah Johnshoy had 11 and Agata Sklepik added 10.
- The Tritons tied a season-high in aces with 11. Sklepik had four of them while Sydney Case recorded three.
- Rachel Wisian led the front-line defense with five blocks (one solo).
UP NEXT
The Tritons are home again next weekend starting with Florida Tech on Friday for a 7:00 PM start.
