MIAMI SHORES, Fla. - For the second-straight
match, the Rollins Tars volleyball team couldn't capture a victory
after claiming the first two sets and fell, 3-2 (24-26, 22-25,
25-15, 25-22, 25-6) to the Barry Buccaneers, Friday evening in
Sunshine State Conference action.
With the loss, Rollins falls to 14-17 and 2-11 in SSC, while Barry
improves to 14-10 and 5-4 in the conference.
The Tars were led by the conference leader in kills, Nikki
Hartman. With 18, the Deltona, Fla., guided the team as Jenny
Sherwood and Mikayla Pierce provided offensive support with 11 and
10 kills respectively.
However, Barry countered with 29 kills from Julia Teixiera who
complimented her attacking effort with a .371 hitting mark. The
Buccaneers registered nine more kills, but were still held to under
.200 in the match as they finished with a .192 attacking
percentage.
Defensively, Rollins tallied 110 digs, 26 from sophomore Phoebe
Corder and 22 from Karin Barborikova. Hartman and setters Kayla
Austin and Kiana Parks tallied double-digit dig efforts to
contribute.
Freshman Jill Lau registered two solo blocks to finish with three,
second to Sherwood's four assisted blocks.
The Tars came out looking to end its eight-match losing streak with
the first two set victories. Rollins was nearly flawless in the
first set with just three attacking errors and 16 kills. Taking
advantage of the seven Barry errors, Rollins took its momentum into
the second set and out-performed the Bucs, 18-13 in kills.
After intermission it was a different story, the Buccaneers came
out strong building a quick lead. The Tars fought back to cut the
deficit to two at 11-9, but Barry extended the lead to eight at
22-14, before scoring three out of the next four points to claim
the third set.
In the fourth stanza, Rollins remained in the fight to try to
secure the victory after tying the match at 17. Two-straight
Teixiera kills preceded a pair of attacking errors, which knotted
the frame at 19. A 3-0 run gave Barry a late lead, which led into
a four-point victory.
The Bucs owned the fifth set holding the Tars to five kills with
eight attacking errors and committed just one attacking error.
Rollins and Barry have split the regular-season, the Tars captured
a victory in the first meeting, 3-0, Oct. 2.
Just four days earlier, the Tars fell to in-state Flagler, 3-2
after gaining a 2-0 set lead and are 2-7 in five-set matches this
season. Five of those five-set matches have occurred during their
current losing skid.
Rollins continues its four-match SSC road trip when they travel
to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., for a 4 p.m. showdown against Nova
Southeastern, Saturday, Nov. 7.
