West Palm Beach, Fla.- With preseason completed and even a weekend tournament under their belt, the Palm Beach Atlantic University women’s volleyball team got their home season underway in impressive fashion on Tuesday night as they swept Embry-Riddle University in a quick 3-0 victory for the Sailfish.

A squad filled with new faces including first-year head coach Nicole Carter, PBA stormed out quickly in game one and took down the Eagles by a score of 30-26. The following two games wouldn’t provide much hope for ERAU either as the Sailfish were victorious by scores of 30-18 and 30-26.

Freshman Kristin Carroll (Billings, Mont./Billings HS) paced the Sailfish attack with a game-high 16 kills while also leading all players with 42 total attacks for the three-game match. Also in double figures in kills was junior Brittany Erickson (La Mesa, Calif./Christian HS) who tallied 10 total kills.

Veteran setter Emily Ryerson (Winter Springs, Fla./Winter Springs HS) continued her good work in the early part of the season by providing 33 assists within the three-game sweep while also chipping in five digs. Anchoring the libero position early on in 2007 has been sophomore Jennifer Eldridge (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla./Dwyer HS) who paced the PBA squad with 15 defensive digs against Embry-Riddle.

Following close behind Eldridge’s leading total was Erickson with 14 digs and freshman setter Katie Medder (Miami, Fla./Westminster Christian HS) with 12 digs. Eldridge also totaled a team-leading five service aces while Carroll and Erickson each contributed three aces.

With a smaller number of players on the roster this season and a new coaching staff, Carter is starting to see results.

“We continue to improve each time out and that’s very encouraging,” said Carter after the match. “I was pleased with the girl’s enthusiasm and I thought they played with a lot of energy throughout the match,” continued Carter who comes to PBA after a solid playing career at New Mexico Highlands and coaching stints at New Mexico Highlands and Rutgers University.

After Tuesday night’s victory over Embry-Riddle, the Fish will have a few days of rest and preparation as they will be traveling to Eckerd College this weekend (Friday, August 31st and Saturday, September 1st) to compete in the Eckerd College Tournament. They open up play at 7:00 p.m. against Puerto Rico-Bayamon and then square off against East Stroudsburg University and Eckerd College on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., respectively.

PBA will next play at home on Tuesday, September 4th when they play host to Nova Southeastern University with a slated 7:00 p.m. start time.