TAMPA, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle volleyball team suffered a 3-0 defeat at Tampa on Tuesday night, falling 25-19, 25-18, 25-20 to the Spartans. The loss drops ERAU's season record to 13-10, 8-9 in SSC matches, while UT improves to 14-13, 9-7 in conference play.
 
Paola Virella led the team with eight kills, while McKenna James had six kills and Theresa Jordan and Melanie Canfield had five apiece. Jordan added 10 digs while Olivia Roa picked up a team-high 13, and Alyssa Rudd tallied 22 assists.
 
The Eagles struggled offensively in the first set, hitting .000 with seven kills and seven attack errors in the frame. The Spartans used a 6-1 run to take a 12-9 lead and UT slowly pulled away late in the set, ending it on an 8-3 spurt to win, 25-19.
 
In the second set, ERAU scored three straight points, including a pair of blocks from Ella Duggan, to tie the set at 17-17. Tampa answered back with a 6-0 rally to pull out to a 23-17 lead and the Spartans ended up winning the set by a 25-18 score to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The third set saw Embry-Riddle rack up 12 kills, the most of the three sets, but UT was tough to stop, hitting .412 with 17 kills in the final set. The Spartans jumped out to an early 7-3 lead and before too long the margin had grown to 15-7. The Blue and Gold quietly put together a 6-2 run to close the gap to 17-13, and later in the period the Eagles scored four straight points to trim the deficit to just three points (22-19). Unfortunately for ERAU, that was as close as it would be for the rest of the match, as Tampa won three of the final four points to close out the set, 25-20, completing the 3-0 sweep.
 
The Eagles are back in action on Friday when they travel to Lakeland to face No. 24 Florida Southern at 7 p.m.