ST. PETERSBURG -- The Eckerd Tritons volleyball team secured a three-set win over the visiting Saint Leo Lions on Saturday inside the McArthur Center.
After trading points early on to begin the match, the Tritons were the first to break away after back-to-back service aces from
Kinga Michalska helped double up the visitors by a score of 8-4. Saint Leo hung around, closing the gap to one at 10-9, but a 5-0 scoring run moments later quickly gave the Tritons their largest lead of the game at 16-10. Following a pair of rally wins both ways, Eckerd pulled away for good with the set's next seven points, highlighted by solo blocks from
Peyton Walker and
Seiler Hruska. Walker's kill to give Eckerd its 25th points wrapped up the eight-point victory.Â
In set two, the Tritons tallied 10 of the first 13 points scored, but the Lions eventually cut the deficit to just one following a 9-3 scoring outburst. Eckerd never lost the lead and built a cushion of as many as six at a score of 22-16 before hanging on for a four-point win.
Natalie Aniol halted Saint Leo's momentum with the game-clinching kill to put the team up 2-0 in the match. The Tritons ran away from the visitors in the third set, seeing a lead reach double-digits before securing a 25-17 victory. Eckerd had its best defensive performance in set three, holding the Lions to just .031 hitting and allowing just seven kills. The Tritons hit over .320 in all three sets and had 13 or more kills each time out.
Michalska led the way with a double-double, finishing with 12 kills, 10 digs, and seven service aces. Aniol was next with nine kill on just 11 swings, while
Gabi Jedrzejczak averaged over 11 assists per set at 34 total.
With the win, the Tritons improve to 12-7 overall and 2-6 in the SSC. The team will be back in action on Tuesday to host Embry-Riddle.
