Lions Tame Tars on the Road

SAINT LEO, Fla. (November 13, 2021) - The Rollins College Tars dropped their third straight match, falling on the road against the Saint Leo Lions, 3-1. The loss moves Rollins to 7-21 (2-16 SSC) on the year, while Saint Leo improves to 12-17 (6-12 SSC).

How it happened:

• The Lions jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the first set with a pair of kills from Brooke Turner. Candace Doxey got the Tars on the board with a kill, followed by three errors from Saint Leo to make it a one-point game. The Lions would reclaim the momentum by scoring five of the next six points to make it 10-5. For the rest of the match, Rollins could only muster one point at a time, while Saint Leo was scoring in groups of two or three. They would eventually take the first set by a score of 25-13. 
• The second set was much closer as Rollins was able to clean up their attack cut down on ball-handling errors. After Saint Leo took an early lead, an Andie Baldridge kill and a solo block from Alexis Yeager tied things up at five. Unfortunately, Saint Leo would score eight of the next ten points to take a commanding lead. With the Lions up 21-12, Rollins earned five straight points to make it a four-point game. Saint Leo called timeout to quell the Rollins threat, and were able to hang on late to win 25-21. 
• Rollins finally put it all together in set three. After falling behind 11-8, the Tars took the next five points thanks to some monster play at the net. Riley Spurlin and Lana Gerard each recorded kills, while Rollins also added three blocks to their box score, including a solo from Spurlin. After Saint Leo tied things up at 14, a six-point run from the Tars put the set out of reach. During the streak, Spurlin added another block while Gerard and Doxey each recorded a kill. Saint Leo got as close as 23-21, but kills from Yeager and Spurlin secured the 25-21 win.
• The Tars scored the first point of the last set on a Lana Gerard solo block, but then saw the Lions score the next ten points. A five point run at the end made the score respectable, but the Tars ran out of juice late in the game, dropping the deciding set 25-15.

Spurlin and Gerard each had nine kills to lead the Tars attack. Ashley Russell provided some fire power from behind the line, tallying three aces in the match to go with her nine assists. Charlie Durbin once again led the team in digs with 16, while Gerard and Emma Begley each blocked five shots. The Tars recorded 36 kills at .133, while the Lions struck for 53 kills at .217.

Next week will be the final two games for the Tars. On Friday they travel to Tampa to face the nationally ranked Spartans, followed by a trip to Lakeland to face the Florida Southern Mocs. The action can be seen live on the Tars Sports Network.