Volleyball falls in five at Rollins

WINTER PARK, Fla. -- The Eckerd volleyball team dropped a close contest against the Rollins Tars on Tuesday, falling in five sets on the road.

Rollins came out in front following a back-and-forth start to the match, pulling away from a 16-16 tie in the opening set with a 9-3 run to close it out. Eckerd answered with a victory in the second, taking the lead early on at 3-2 and never losing it on its way to a six-point victory. The Tritons built a lead of as many as 10 in the second set and used strong defense to propel them to an equalizing win, posting a match-best 20 digs asa team in the frame. The Tars notched a 25-22 win in the third to move back out in front in the match by a score of 2-1.

Eckerd hit .417 in an efficient fourth set to extend the match to a deciding game. The Tritons quickly doubled up the Tars in fourth at 6-3, and again at 8-4, but the home team battled back to eventually pull within a point at 14-13. A kill by Peyton Walker halted the momentum for Rollins and the Tritons continued to fend off every threat from the Tars before sealing the 25-22 victory with consecutive points. A kill from Kinga Michalska stopped a 3-0 scoring run from Rollins that made it a 23-22 game before a joint block by Walker and Seiler Hruska gave the Tritons their 25th point. 

The fifth set brought six ties and three lead changes, with Rollins the first to eight points following four straight points to erase a 6-4 lead for Eckerd. The Tars held onto a lead the rest of the way other than Michalska's kill evening the score at 10 points apiece. The Tritons fended off one match point and forced an attack error to get within one at 14-13, but Rollins secured the next rally win to escape with the two-point victory.

Michalska led the way with 21 kills and 17 digs, while Kaitlyn Dohs added 12 to go with 16 digs. Hruska also collected a double-double with 10 kills and 15 digs, while Gabi Jedrzejcak racked up 50 assists.

Eckerd will return home to face Saint Leo on Saturday.