Spartans Too Much for Tars

WINTER PARK, Fla. (October 16, 2021) - The #8 Tampa Spartans showed why they are one of the elite teams in the country with a 3-0 sweep of Rollins in Winter Park on Saturday. The loss drops Rollins to 3-15 on the year, while Tampa improves to 15-2.

How it happened:

• Rollins jumped out to a quick lead with a pair of kills from Andie Baldridge and Candace Doxey. After a short streak by Tampa, Lana Gerard and Riley Spurlin added kills for the Tars to make the score 6-4. Unfortunately the Tars gifted three straight points to the Spartans on attack errors, followed by a spurt where Tampa scored seven of the next nine points. With a healthy lead and efficient offensive attack, the Spartans were able to keep the Tars at bay, eventually winning the first set 25-12. 
• The second set started the exact same way as the first with successful attacks from Baldridge and Doxey to give Rollins an early advantage. With the score knotted at five, Kalli Cors scored three of the next four points on kills to give Tampa a 9-5 lead. A kill by Alexis Yeager and a block from Emma Begley and Spurlinm helped keep the Tars close. Neither team made a significant run after that, and eventually Tampa wore down the Tars to take set two by a score of 25-18. Rollins was outscored at the net 17-9 by the Spartans in set two, which proved ot be the difference. 
• Tampa led early in the third set, and did not look back, winning 25-12. Riley Spurlin led the Tars with three kills in the final frame.       

 Rollins totaled 24 kills for the match, led by Spurlin's six, Doxey's five and five from Gerard as well. Gerard added another ace to her season total, giving her 29 on the year, second most in the SSC. 

On deck for the Tars will be three matches against teams from the Gulf South Conference in the annual GSC/SSC crossover event. Matchups will be determined this weekend, and released on Monday. Games will be played on Friday and Saturday, October 22 & 23 in Winter Haven, Florida.