DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Three players recorded double-figures in kills led by Savannah Trakes with 14 to help the Embry-Riddle Univerity volleyball team win its fourth-straight match with a 3-1 victory (30-20, 27-30, 31-29, 30-20) against the University of St. Francis (Ill.) Tuesday night in the ICI Center.
April Ebanks continued her dominance at the net for the Eagles with two block solos and nne block assists to go along with her 13 kills, while Jenni Nelsen added 12 kills and 10 digs. Libero Rachel Ridder continued her strong play defensively leading the Eagles with 17 digs in the match, while setter Marissa Gonzales added 12 digs, five block assists and 37 assists.
The Eagles defensive wall at the net, which recorded 17 total team blocks (three solos and 28 assists), wasn't easy for St. Francis to swing through as they hit negative numbers in the first and fourth games, -.139 and -.034, respectively. USF finished the match hitting just .045, while ERAU swung .188 on the night.
Both teams battled closely in the first game tied 8-8 early, however Embry-Riddle went on a 19-7 run to pull ahead 25-15. This surge coupled with the Eagles block, was too much for the Saints to overcome as the Blue and Gold went on to prevail 30-20.
The second game was very similar to the first and ERAU pushed out to a 20-14 lead, howeve this time St. Francis showed life battling back with an 11-3 run taking a 25-23 advantage sparked by five Eagle attack errors. Embry-Riddle cut the game to 28-27 on a kill by Ebanks, but USF's Jill Boyce put the game away with consecutive kills to win 30-27.
St. Francis continued to pressure the host Eagles in the third despite falling behind 14-7 early. The Saints didn't look like a team that has now lost nine-straight matches. They patiently kept chipping away at the Embry-Riddle lead and tied the match at 21-21 and grabbed a 23-21 lead before ERAU called a timeout. St. Francis kept the lead and looked as though they would pull ahead 2-1 in the match after gaining a 29-27 lead. But instead of closing the game out, Kristy Zintak was blocked by Ebanks and Gonzales to trim the margin to 29-28 and then another block by Ebanks and Trakes on Nikki Antle's attempt tied the game at 29-29. Ebanks had a kill on the next point and then Kelsey Polte was whistled for a double to end the game 31-29 in favor of Embry-Riddle.
The third-game loss virtually took all the energy out of St. Francis as they quickly fell behind in the final game 10-4 and managed to close the gap to four points at 13-9 before the Eagles pulled away with a 9-1 run to lead 22-10 and cruised to the match victory 30-20.
Embry-Riddle returns to conference play on Friday when they travel to West Palm Beach to face Northwood at 7 p.m. and then close out the weekend at Florida Memorial in Opa Locka Saturday at 12 p.m.
