ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Eckerd volleyball team held off a late Sailfish rally Saturday afternoon, defeating Palm Beach Atlantic in five sets at the McArthur Center.
Eckerd opened the match aggressively, taking the opening set, 25-16, in dominant fashion. The teams swapped leads in the second set before EC used a 5-1 stretch to cap the set, 25-21.
EC and PBA stayed within two points of each other for the majority of the third stanza, but the Sailfish took the set on three straight points, 25-20. The fourth set was close throughout, with the Tritons taking a late 23-20 lead. However, PBA used a 7-2 run to take the fourth, 27-25, forcing a decisive fifth set.
The Tritons jumped out to an early lead in the finale and later used a four-point run to take a 10-4 lead. PBA pulled close at 12-10, but EC followed with a pair of kills and forced a Sailfish error to take the game, 15-11.
HOW IT ENDED
FINAL: Eckerd 3, Palm Beach Atlantic 2 (25-16, 25, 21, 20-25, 25-27, 15-10)
RECORDS: Eckerd 12-7 (5-6 SSC), Palm Beach Atlantic 8-11 (4-7 SSC)
NOTES AND NUMBERS
- Anna Jungjohann led EC with 16 kills, three shy of her career-high. She only recorded one error for an impressive .609 hitting percentage.
- Rachel Wisian and Ranya Mehta posted double-digit kills with 13 and 11, respectively.
- Joelle Coulter, Cecilia Robert, and Krysten Garrison all narrowly missed double-doubles. Each tallied nine kills while Garrison collected a career-high 52 assists, Coulter posted 10 digs, and Robert had nine digs.
- Eckerd hit .361, marking the sixth time this season they hit over .300 as a team.
- Wisian added seven blocks.
- Nicki Bechtold posted a team-high 14 digs.
- Daniella Russo-Lolas led the team at the service line with three aces.
- The match was the fourth time this season EC has gone to five sets.
UP NEXT
Eckerd travels to Orlando for the South Region Crossover next Friday and Saturday. They start the tournament Friday at 12:15 against West Georgia.
