TAMPA, Fla.- The Palm Beach Atlantic volleyball came through when it mattered the most on Thursday afternoon as they defeated Rollins College in the opening round of the NCAA Regional Tournament. The No. 3-seed in the tournament, the Sailfish knocked off the No. 6-seed Tars by a 3-1 score as both teams battled back and forth in an instant classic.

Entering Thursday’s action, the Sailfish (34-3) had never defeated Rollins (18-15) in eight previous attempts. The Fish chose an excellent time to pull through for their first victory in the series.

The victory allows the Fish to move on to the South Region semi-finals where they will battle the winner of the University of West Florida (No. 2-seed) and Christian Brothers University (No. 7-seed). The match will take place at 5 pm.

The Sailfish shook off a slow start in the match as they dropped the opening set before holding on for an exciting 29-27 win in set four to clinch the match.

The final play of the match came from freshman Rachel Jones who stepped to the service line as the team neared their limit in substitutions. The Wadsworth, Ohio native shocked nearly everyone in the building as she delivered a game-winning ace to middle of the Rollins defense for just her second ace of her young career.

Upon the ball hitting the floor, Jones was mobbed by teammates as the team celebrated two program firsts: a victory over Rollins and more importantly a first-ever NCAA postseason victory.

The 2012 PBA volleyball team joins the 2009 softball and women’s tennis teams as the only programs in the universities six-year NCAA tenure to achieve a NCAA postseason win.

Leading up to Jones’ heroics, the match provided plenty of drama for both sides.

The Fish looked as if they might open the match with a 1-0 set lead as they jumped ahead 23-19. The experience of the Tars shined through brightly however.

Rollins stormed ahead with six straight points to close out a 25-23 win that left them in firm grasp of the momentum.

Set two appeared to have a similar feel as the Fish once again led late at 23-18. This time however they would close out the all-important win as they saw kills from Jones and Mariela Quesada on the final plays to win 25-23.

The third set completely belonged to the Blue and White. The Sailfish put together one of their more dominant individual set performances of the season as they blasted home 17 kills to just one error for a ridiculous .552 team hitting percentage.

Quesada was especially effective as she connected on nine kills in the set with just one error as PBA cruised 25-14.

After falling behind quickly 4-0 in set four, the Fish regained their confidence and led 15-10 as they hoped to close out the victory. The Tars would not quit however as seemingly every point was traded down the stretch.

Both teams would reach set point at different points before Jones’ final play handed the Fish the much-deserved victory.

Quesada made her NCAA postseason debut a magical one as she produced a season-high 27 kills while doing so on 58 total attacks for a solid .293 attacking percentage.

Joining Quesada in double-figures in kills was Faith Rohn with 13 kills and Elly Raush with 10 kills. Giving the team a big lift in her hometown of Tampa was freshman Stephany Brown who provided seven kills as well.

Sophomores Melissa Buckingham and Becca Acevedo each did their usual good work with Buckingham leading all players with 20 digs while Acevedo dished out 49 assists. Quesada finished with a double-double as she added in 15 digs to go with her 27 kills. Rohn also produced a double-double with 13 digs.

The Sailfish controlled the service line in the match as they registered 11 aces compared to that of only two aces for the Tars. On the flip side, the bigger block of Rollins proved effective at the net as they collected 27 blocks (26 block assists, 1 solo block) compared to that of only eight blocks for PBA.

The Tars were paced by a pair of All-Region selections in Camille Indest and Megan Hodges as Indest had 17 kills and a .556 attacking percentage while Hodges added in 13 kills.

Kelly Meredith chipped in 14 digs to aide the Tars defense.