MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Led by 17 kills from
Emily Jacobson and 16 kills from
Taylor Martin, the eighth-ranked Embry-Riddle volleyball team defeated St. Thomas in four sets Friday night (25-15, 23-25, 25-23, 25-22) to improve to 11-4 overall and 2-0 in conference play. With the loss, STU falls to 6-3 and 2-1 in the conference.
The Blue and Gold looked the more dominant side in the first set, outhitting the Bobcats .433 to .258. A service error by Taylor Allgeier put the Eagles ahead 4-3 and ERAU would lead for the remainder of the set. A 9-2 run keyed by three kills and a block from Jacobson lifted Embry-Riddle to a 14-6 lead. The Eagles closed out the set on a 6-1 run capped by a Martin kill to finish the stanza, 25-15.
The second set saw the Bobcats run out to a 9-1 lead in the opening moments. ERAU chipped away at the deficit, eventually drawing even at 19-19 after back-to-back kills from Martin. An STU error followed by a
Jordan Holcomb kill put the Blue and Gold ahead for the first time in the set, 21-19. St. Thomas fought back with a 6-2 run to close out the frame, 25-23, snapping Embry-Riddle's 64-set winning streak in conference play that dated back to the third set of a 3-1 victory at Northwood two years ago (Oct. 22, 2010).
ERAU started the third set much better than the second, opening up a 7-3 advantage early on. After three Eagle errors, the Bobcats trimmed the margin to a single point (8-7), but a 6-1 run built the lead back up to 14-8. STU cut the deficit to one point again at 18-17 only to see the Eagles score two consecutive points to lead, 20-17. St. Thomas rallied to eventually pull even with Embry-Riddle after back-to-back ERAU errors tied the set at 22-22. Jacobson put down a kill to regain the lead, 23-22, which was answered by a kill from STU's Felicia Gonzales.
Veera Hietala put Embry-Riddle up 24-23 with a kill and another error by Allgeier ended the set, 25-23, giving ERAU a 2-1 lead.
The Eagles took advantage of five STU errors to jump out to a 6-2 lead. After St. Thomas rattled off five straight points to take a 7-6 lead, Embry-Riddle responded with four consecutive points to regain the lead, 10-7. Back-to-back kills from Jacobson increased the lead to 15-9, the largest lead the Eagles would hold in the set. A 5-1 STU spurt brought the Bobcats to within a point at 19-18, but Martin and Jacobson responded with kills on three of the next four points to grow the lead to 22-19. Holcomb put down two straight kills to give the Eagles match point at 24-20 and
Morgan Shattuck finished off the match with a kill to give ERAU a 25-22 win in the set and a 3-1 match victory.
Jacobson led the Eagles with 17 kills, a .577 hitting percentage and six blocks. Martin finished with 16 kills and 15 digs, while Holcomb added 10 kills and seven digs.
Hannah Gray led all players with 29 digs while
Adriana Vazquez collected 48 assists and eight digs.
Allgeier picked up a team-high 22 kills while Nicole McInnis registered 17 kills and a team-high 22 digs. Jordan Wiese (18) and Angie Ardiles (17) also tallied double-digit dig totals and Sydney Maynard recorded a match-high 53 assists.
The Eagles return to the court tomorrow afternoon when they travel to Florida Memorial for a 2 p.m. conference match.
