ST. PETERSBURG -- The Eckerd Tritons volleyball team made quick work of the visiting Florida Southern Moccasins on Friday in straight sets, winning with set scores of 25-17, 25-13, and 25-21.
Eckerd never trailed in the opening frame, tallying the first three points of the contest before building a lead of five at 12-7. Moments later, the Tritons extended the differential out to seven after scoring four points in a row to make it 18-11. Florida Southern answered with a quick 3-0 spurt, but Eckerd never let the visitors get within four again the rest of the way. The Tritons hit a match-best .355 in the first set with 15 kills.Â
In a dominant second set, Eckerd bounced back from an early 2-0 deficit with the game's next five scores, highlighted by three kills in a row from
Kinga Michalska. After the Mocs halted the run with a point to make it 5-3, the Tritons rattled off seven points in a row to extend the advantage to 12-3.
Gabi Jedrzejczak had two service aces and a kill during the 7-0 run. Three points later, the Tritons made it a double-digit lead with Michalska's second ace of the match and the team pushed the margin out to as many as 13 before notching a 12-point win. Eckerd held Florida Southern to -.028 in the set.
A back-and-forth third set followed, but began with Florida Southern's largest lead of the entire match early on at a score of 7-4. Eckerd quickly got within one after consecutive kills from
Kaitlyn Dohs, and
Sydney Williams' pair of aces then moved the Tritons out in front. Four ties ensued before Eckerd broke away with five of the next six rally wins to turn an 11-11 game into 16-12. The Mocs got within one again at 18-17, but a kill and ace from Dohs gave the Tritons some cushion.
Peyton Walker collected a kill on the team's first match point opportunity to seal the sweep.
Michalska led a balanced attack offensively with 10 kills, followed by Dohs with nine and
Jaelynn Tunley with seven. Dohs and Jedrzejczak each collected double-digit digs, while Walker added three blocks.
The Tritons improve to 15-10 overall with the win and will host No. 1 Tampa tomorrow afternoon.Â
