WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.- Two familiar foes entered the Rubin Arena on Friday as the Sailfish volleyball team opened up day one of hosting the annual Pepsi Bash at the Beach Tournament. First the Fish would be matched up with Lincoln Memorial (Tenn.) University where the Blue and White shook off a first set loss and came away with a 3-1 win. Up next was South Florida rival Barry University who the Fish battled to a five-set victory in the nightcap as the Fish dismantled the Bucs in the fifth set for an exciting way to end the night.

The Sailfish have now pushed their record to 19-2 on the season while producing wins in their last 17 matches. They will take on Claflin (S.C.) University and Bentley (Mass.) University on Saturday as they will wrap up play at the Pepsi Bash at the Beach Tournament. The Fish take on Claflin at 12 pm and Bentley at 4 pm.

Match One (PBA vs. Lincoln Memorial University)

Taking on the Railsplitters (13-6) for the second time this season after seeing them a first time around at the Carson Newman College Tournament a few weeks ago, the Fish knew they would have their hands full against a tough and battled-tested LMU squad.

After suffering a 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Fish a few weeks ago, the Railsplitters would jump out early as they rattled  off an impressive 25-17 opening set win behind a .294 team hitting percentage.

Back came the Sailfish however with wins in the next three sets as they settled down and got things moving in a positive direction. PBA pulled off 25-16, 25-23 and 25-21 wins to close out the 3-1 win.

Senior Mariela Quesada was in typical form as she blasted kill after kill in leading the PBA attack. The San Jose, Costa Rica native produced a double-double effort with 23 kills and 12 digs while connecting on 55 total attacks.

Once again stepping up in a big game was freshman Faith Rohn who added in 14 kills with just three errors in the match as she also chipped in eight digs. The strong PBA freshmen class continues to be a great story for PBA as Elly Raush and Rachel Jones also chipped in solid performances alongside Rohn up front with nine and eight kills respectively.

Freshman Rachael Holehouse led a determined PBA defensive effort with a career-high of 18 digs on the night while Melissa Buckingham also topped double-figures with 10 digs. Jones managed four block assists and one solo block to lead PBA’s defensive efforts at the net.

Becca Acevedo collected 53 assists in the win while adding in three service aces.

Match Two (PBA vs. Barry University)

While the opening match of the tournament for PBA produced its fair share of ups and downs not to mention exciting moments, it would serve only as an appetizer for the main course to come.

Much like their matchup with the Bucs on the Rubin Arena floor last season, it would take five sets to knock off the tradition-strong Barry program.

Unlike their matchup with LMU, the Fish would jump out early on BU as they put together a solid first set that left the Fish with a 25-19 win to move in front. As would seemingly be the case all night long, the Bucs would have an answer.

They fired back with a 25-18 win of their own in set two before PBA came through with a narrow 25-23 win in set three to grab back the momentum.

The Bucs would refuse to quit however and forced the fifth and deciding set with a 25-21 win in set four.

Perhaps aided by a late rally in set four to cut things to four points, the Fish came out fired up and ready for a victory in set five as they posted the first six points of the set.

Holehouse did the service work as she tallied an opening ace then saw back-to-back kills from Rohn but the Blue and White up early. After three consecutive hitting errors by BU left them down 6-0, the two teams would basically trade points the rest of the way as Palm Beach Atlantic collected the 15-7 victory.

The Sailfish managed only a .190 team hitting percentage in the match however their defensive efforts proved to be the difference. A total of 17 blocks in the match overwhelmed the Bucs smaller attack as BU was limited to a .155 hitting mark for the match while producing only ten blocks on their side.

Quesada was once again tremendous as she collected 22 kills to lead all players followed on the Sailfish side by 15 kills from Rohn and 11 kills from Jones. Raush added in eight kills as well.

Buckingham and Rohn proved to be big difference makers in the backrow with 18 and 17 digs respectively while Holehouse (13 digs) and Quesada (11 digs) also turned in highlight performances.

Acevedo came through with a big night at the setter position with 54 assists with just three setting errors.

Jones teamed with fellow freshman Stephany Brown to pace the blocking efforts at the net with four block assists each.

Barry was led by Ashley Carrero and Tania Torres with 14 and 12 kills respectively while Careero and libero Jasmine Serna topped the team leaderboard in digs with 18 each.

Mima Hajdukovic finished with 41 assists, eight digs, five kills and four service aces in the match.