West Palm Beach, Fla.- After posting a victory against cross-town rival Northwood University during their opening game of day two of the Pepsi Bash at the Beach tournament, the Palm Beach Atlantic University women’s volleyball team was unable to overcome Madonna University in the tournament championship, falling 3-1 on Saturday evening.

Madonna, a power-house NAIA team from Livonia, Michigan, has now won the tournament for three consecutive years, defeating PBA in all three championship finals.

Overall, the Sailfish turned in a 3-1 tournament record with victories over Southeastern University (Fla.) and St. Thomas University on Friday followed up by their match with Northwood and Madonna on Saturday. PBA’s overall record now stands at 10-8 on the year.

In their match versus Northwood, PBA was led by a trio of heavy-hitting outside hitters in Brittany Erickson (La Mesa, Calif.), Kristin Carroll (Billings, Mont.) and Bia Santos (Sao Paulo, Brazil). Erickson paced the overall Sailfish attack with 17 kills followed by Carrol with 13 kills and Santos with 12 kills.

Junior setter Emily Ryerson (Winter Springs, Fla./Winter Springs HS) tallied an even 50 assists as she consistently fed the Sailfish attackers with superb, crisp passes. For her efforts, Ryerson joined Erickson and PBA sophomore Jennifer Eldridge on the All-Tournament Team. Eldridge led PBA with 16 defensive digs in their win versus Northwood.

The Sailfish defeated the Seahawks by the scores of 30-20, 18-30, 30-20, and 30-25.

In the championship final, both teams presented a variety of hard-hitting attackers along with determined defenses which kept rallies alive on both ends throughout the contest.

Madonna outside-hitter Lubovj Tihomirova led all hitters with 33 kills in the final and was named the MVP of the tournament. Whitney Fuelling also reached double-digits in kills by accumulating 12 overall in the win over PBA. Setter Inta Grinvalds tallied 55 set assists to help aide the Crusaders attack.

Senior Ali Mitchell (West Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm HS) gave PBA a significant boost in the championship game by registering a season-high 26 kills followed up by Erickson who notched 13 kills. Ryerson once again set the stage for the PBA front-line as she collected 48 overall assists.

With tournament play now complete, the Sailfish can return their attention to their regular season matches with their next opponent scheduled for Thursday, September 27th when they travel to St. Leo University for a 7:00 p.m. showdown with the Lions.

All Tournament Team Brittany Erickson, PBA Emily Ryerson, PBA Jennifer Eldridge, PBA Lubovj Tihomirova, Madonna * Whitney Fuelling, Madonna Jacqui Gatt, Madonna Rebecca Ohman, Northwood Casey Jensen, Southeastern Marissa Gonzalez, Embry-Riddle Adrianna Montilla, St. Thomas University

*Tournament MVP