DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For the fourth consecutive season, the Embry-Riddle volleyball team played through the entire Sun Conference regular season without a blemish. The Eagles swept Warner on Saturday, 25-23, 25-19, 25-15, finishing the season 10-0 in conference play. ERAU hasn't lost a regular season conference match since Sept. 12, 2008; the consecutive wins streak is now at 65 straight regular season TSC matches.
With the win, the Eagles finish the regular season at 26-4 overall and 10-0 in conference, while Warner ends at 12-12 and 7-4 in league play.
The Blue and Gold opened the match with a pair of attack errors and continued to fall behind early in the first set. The Royals held a six-point advantage (14-8) before the Eagles started to come back, using a 4-0 run to pull within two points (14-12). Warner maintained the lead until a 5-0 run brought Embry-Riddle to a 22-20 lead, its first lead since the score was 4-3. After WU tied things at 23,
Taylor Martin put down a kill followed by a Warner attack error, giving the Eagles a 25-23 win.
Set two saw the home team fall behind early once again, trailing by as many as four points (10-6). The Blue and Gold finally strung together eight straight points to pull away from the Royals, 22-15. The 8-0 run included three points apiece from Martin and
Adriana Vazquez.
Jordan Holcomb closed out the set with a pair of kills to give ERAU a 25-19 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
In the third set, Embry-Riddle came out strong, jumping to an 8-2 lead very quickly. Warner chipped away at the deficit, eventually closing the gap to just two points (11-9), but the Eagles wouldn't allow them any closer. A 6-0 run broke the set open at 22-12 and Martin finished off the Royals with kills on two of the final three points as the Blue and Gold took the final set, 25-15, sweeping their fifth consecutive match and 15th of the season.
Holcomb led all players with 14 kills (.438 hitting percentage) to go along with eight digs. Martin collected 12 kills and eight digs, while
Emily Jacobson and
Morgan Shattuck chipped in with eight and six kills, respectively. Shattuck also registered a match-high four blocks.
Hannah Gray picked up a match-leading 23 digs and
Adriana Vazquez led all players with 39 assists.
Kimberlee Thomas led the Royals with nine kills and Tiffani Pate added eight kills (.467 hitting percentage). Chloe Boehm (17 assists) and Allison Kennedy (16 assists) ran the offense while Jarrah Garner collected a team-leading 10 digs.
The Eagles have clinched the No. 1 seed in The Sun Conference Tournament, earning a bye in the quarterfinal round. Embry-Riddle will host the semifinals and finals next weekend, beginning with a Friday match against the winner of the Warner-Southeastern quarterfinal match.
