WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.- Although the crowd was smaller in size due to the upcoming Fall Break on Palm Beach Atlantic’s campus this weekend, the Sailfish and Webber International volleyball team still gave the people on hand an unforgettable show on Thursday night. The Fish would be forced to rally from being down 2-0 including at match point versus the Warriors to claim an improbable if not unbelievable victory by a 3-2 final score.

Pitting two squads together who are both having outstanding seasons, Thursday’s matchup appeared to be one that strongly favored the heavy-hitting Sailfish (20-3)  who have still never lost to the Warriors (19-7) dating back to their days as conference foes in the NAIA’s Florida Sun Conference.

Despite their dominating history the Sailfish would be the ones dominated through the first two sets and nearly a third as the Warriors earned 25-23 wins in each of the first two sets then clung to a 24-23 lead in set number three.

With PBA on the cusp of dropping just their fourth match all season, the team turned to senior Janeen McCormick who received a nice overhead set from fellow senior Jessica Way as McCormick tied the set at 24-24 with a big right-handed swing.

From that point the Fish were the recipient of an attacking error by the Warriors and then another McCormick smash put the set away and kept the match going, much to the delight of the PBA crowd on hand in the Rubin Arena.

Although the momentum would be firmly in the grasp of the Sailfish side, the Warriors would not fold as they managed to continue to transform their unorthodox style into solid points on the scoreboard.

Following the dramatic 26-24 win by PBA in the third set, the Fish would have a bit easier road in set four as they took the lead early and held on for a 25-20 win to force the all-important fifth and deciding set.

Back-and-forth the two teams would go through the middle stages as WIU took an 8-7 lead on a PBA attacking error that set up the teams switching sides.

Back-to-back points by PBA put them back on top 9-8 forcing another Warriors timeout. Now back out of the huddle both teams went to work once again in hopes of leading their team to a thrilling outcome.

 It would be the home team however this time around that would take charge as junior Mariela Quesada tallied three kills in a four point span as the Fish took a more comfortable 13-9 lead.

After back-to-back Julianne Dougherty kills narrowed the score one final time, Quesada put an exclamation on the match with her 30th kill of the night around the WIU block as PBA leaped in jubilation as the marathon match had finally come to a close with the Fish holding on for the 15-12 victory.

Quesada had a monstrous night as she delivered 73 attacks including her 30 kills while also adding in 17 digs for her second-straight double-double performance following last night’s similarly thrilling win over Florida Tech.

Christina Alessi proved dominant at times as well from the right-side as she contributed 13 kills on only 23 attacks for a solid .435 attacking percentage.

Janeen McCormick made her kills count with numerous big plays on the night as she finished with 11 kills while adding in three block assists.

Mixing and matching his lineup trying to find a combination that would be effective throughout the five sets, head coach Bob White inserted Way as his setter to combine with the usually solid play of freshman setter Becca Acevedo. Way provided the team with a huge lift as both a second setter and from the service line as she finished with a season-high of 21 assists while Acevedo added in 43 assists of her own.

Other tactical, some might say even on-the-fly changes were necessary from both sides throughout the match as a total of 27 players combined between the two squads saw court time on the night.

Melissa McPeek gave the Fish a big lift on defense from the libero position as she collected 28 digs while Quesada and senior Allie Warren each chipped in solid totals of 17 and 14 digs in the match. Warren and Lanae Robinson led the way with three service aces each.

On the Warriors side they were paced by Dougherty who collected team-high honors in kills with 26 on 73 attacks but was also whistled for 14 errors.

Former Sailfish Katie Lindstrom provided the WIU offense with a solid presence from the setter position as she led all players with 50 assists while adding in 15 digs.

Now officially on Fall Break, the Sailfish will have the long weekend off and will return to action on Wednesday, November 2nd as they will host Northwood University at 7 pm in the Rubin Arena.