Winter Park, Fla. – Rollins earned its first Sunshine State Conference win of the season in dramatic fashion on Tuesday night, taking down Eckerd in a five-set thriller (25–19, 19–25, 25–20, 22–25, 15–13) inside Warden Arena.
Eckerd jumped out to the early lead in the opening frame, but Rollins used a strong serving stretch from Cameron Grange to close the gap. With the set tied at 16–16, a kill from setter Jenna Garza sparked a six-point run, helping the Tars take the opener. The Tritons answered in the second, pulling ahead early and holding off a late Rollins push to even the score. The Tars regained control in the third thanks to a key serving run from Tawnee Shaw, whose back-to-back aces gave Rollins the edge to eventually secure the set. The fourth remained tight throughout, but a late Eckerd surge forced the deciding fifth. In the final frame, Grange and Scuteri posted back-to-back kills to knot things up at 6–6 before the Tars took the lead for good. Both sides traded points down the stretch until Marta Tsaneva delivered the match-winning kill to seal the victory.
The match featured 24 ties and 15 lead changes in total. Tsaneva led the offense with 15 kills on a .323 hitting percentage, adding three service aces. Rylee Yarborough followed with 12 kills, while setters Garza and Molly Morris ran the attack with 19 and 18 assists, respectively. Shaw also matched Tsaneva with three aces. Defensively, Robinson Repass and Vivian Scuteri dominated the net with five block assists each, while libero Sarah Seabrooke anchored the back row with 16 digs.
With the win, Rollins improves to 12–8 overall and 1–6 in SSC play, while Eckerd moves to 11–7 (1–6 SSC). The Tars return to action Thursday night for their annual Dig Pink match, hosting Saint Leo at 7 p.m. inside Warden Arena.
