DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle volleyball team rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win sets four and five on Tuesday, knocking off Rollins 3-2 (25-19, 17-25, 23-25, 26-24, 15-7) to improve to 10-7 on the year. The Tars record drops to an even 9-9 with loss.
Amanda Saunders led the Blue and Gold with 11 kills to go along with 12 digs and seven blocks while
McKenna James added 10 kills and hit .471 (10-2-17).
Ella Duggan recorded a match-best nine blocks (two solo) and
Olivia Roa picked up a match-high 27 digs.
Alyssa Rudd (22 assists, six digs) and
Jordan Nakayama (20 assists, eight digs) ran the 6-2 offense for Embry-Riddle.
The Blue and Gold used an 8-2 run to turn a 6-6 tie in the first set into a 14-8 lead and maintained a comfortable advantage for the rest of the frame, claiming a 25-19 win.
ERAU used a 5-0 run midway through set two to draw level at 12-12 but the Tars answered with a 6-1 run of their own to retake control of the set at 18-13. Rollins closed out the frame winning six of the final nine points to earn a 25-17 win that evened the match at a set apiece.
Set three saw the Blue and Gold spend most of the frame chasing the Tars. ERAU eventually tied things up at 18 but Rollins was able to stem the tide and go on to win by a score of 25-23 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
In the fourth set, ERAU jumped out to a 10-6 lead early on, but Rollins won six of the next seven rallies to take a 12-11 lead. The Tars continued to press, pushing their lead to as large as four points (16-12), only to see the Eagles bounce back with a 6-1 run to move back in front, 19-18. RC came back to tie it at 21; from that point the teams traded sideouts for the next seven rallies until an attack error by the Tars' Shannon McDonough gave the Eagles a 26-24 win and tied the match at two sets each.
After back-to-back tightly-contested sets, the fifth and decisive frame was decidedly one-sided. ERAU scored the first three points and quickly jumped out to a 7-2 lead. The Tars scored two points in a row but ERAU followed that up with a 6-0 run to take a commanding 13-4 lead and the Eagles went on to take the set, 15-7, winning the match three sets to two.
