TAMPA, Fla. – Despite a .218 attacking
percentage, the Rollins Tars volleyball team fell to No. 9 Tampa,
3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 26-24), in Friday evening's Sunshine State
Conference match at the Martinez Center.
Senior Stephanie
Nichols led the attack with 13 kills and a .297 percentage,
while junior outside hitter Nikki
Hartman trailed with 10 kills and a .292 hitting percentage for
Rollins (17-17, 2-11 SSC). Hartman remains the team's kill leader
with 455, which places her sixth on the single-season list.
Senior setter Lacey
Malarky tallied 26 assists and chipped in with two kills and
four digs. Malarky, the all-time leader in assists, increased her
career mark to 5,347
Defensively, freshman Phoebe
Corder had 16 digs to improve on her single-season record of
644.
The Spartans (23-4, 10-3 SSC) were led by a pair of attackers,
Melissa Vanderhall's 12 and Annalea Warren's 11, but it was the
team's 51 kills and .355 attacking percentage that eventually led
to the victory.
In one of the better offensive performances from the Tars in
conference action, Rollins hit a .385 in the second set and forced
overtime in the third set with a .235 mark.
Trailing 2-0 in the match, Rollins and Tampa fought to 13 ties
and seven lead changes. Tied at 11, the Tars scored three-straight
points to take a 14-11 lead. They extended the lead to four at
16-12, but the nationally-ranked Spartans stormed back.
Tampa cut the deficit to one after capitalizing on back-to-back
attacking errors from the Tars. Leading 19-18, Rollins surrendered
its lead on a Vanderhall kill, but regained the lead at 23-21.
After a run from Tampa, the teams exchanged points as the match was
tied at 24.
With the tie, the Spartans used an attacking error to set up a
Meghan Sherman ace to secure the victory.
Rollins returns to action, Saturday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. for
another Sunshine State Conference match against Eckerd.
