DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle volleyball team snapped its three-match losing skid in a big way on Tuesday night, sweeping the visiting Rollins Tars in convincing fashion, 27-25, 25-13, 25-14. Embry-Riddle improves to 12-7 overall and 6-6 in conference play, while Rollins drops to 3-16, 1-11 in SSC matches.
Erika Barbour led all players 13 kills while
Sam Lanning added eight kills and
McKenna James contributed six.
Olivia Roa picked up a match-high 18 digs while
Theresa Jordan (15 digs) and
Melanie Canfield (13 digs) each reached double-figures in digs.
Alyssa Rudd tallied a match-leading 36 assists and added nine digs.
The Eagles went on a 5-0 run early in set one to jump out to a 10-5 lead. ERAU held the lead until a 6-1 Rollins run pushed the Tars in front by a point, 17-16. After a pair of RC errors gave the Eagles a 19-18 advantage, the visitors stormed back to pull ahead, 24-21. Facing multiple set points, the Blue and Gold fought back to win the next three rallies, tying the set at 24. Rollins scored the next point to earn another set point, but a Lanning kill kept ERAU in the set. Roa gave Embry-Riddle its first opportunity to win the set when she scored a service ace to make it 26-25, and the Eagles didn't squander the opportunity as James put down the set-clinching kill on the next rally.
The Tars got off to a fast start in the second set, running out to a 6-2 lead. ERAU responded by winning 13 of the next 16 points to turn that deficit into a 15-9 advantage. After Rollins scored the next two points, Embry-Riddle roared through the rest of the set, winning 10 of the last 12 points to cruise to a 25-13 win.
In the third set, Rollins held a slim lead at 11-8, but the Eagles didn't waste much time turning things around as they went on a 6-1 run to pull ahead, 14-12. The Tars got the next two points to knot things up at 14, but those would prove to be the final points that Rollins would score in the match. Embry-Riddle ended things with a bang, scoring 11 straight points to end the match, winning the third set 25-14.
The Eagles head back out on the road this weekend as they travel south down I-95 to take on Nova Southeastern on Friday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m., and No. 18 Palm Beach Atlantic on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 4 p.m.
