TAMPA, Fla.- The Palm Beach Atlantic volleyball team saw their unprecedented 2012 campaign come to a close on Saturday at the Bob Martinez Athletic Center as they were defeated 3-1 by No. 1-seed and NCAA Regional tournament host University of Tampa. The Sailfish and Spartans represented the best of the NCAA South Region as UT will move on to the final eight teams next week at the NCAA National Championship tournament.

With just a total of two upperclassmen in uniform for the championship final in senior Mariela Quesada and junior Lexie Grizzle, the Sailfish have the potential to develop a budding rivalry with the tradition-strong Spartans in the years to come.

On Saturday the Sailfish (35-4) took on a bigger and more experienced Spartans (30-3) squad and although they gave them a hard-match, the Spartans would prevail by the scores of 25-22, 21-25, 25-12 and 25-11.

Neither team saw their offense check into full gear during the first set as UT hit .213 while PBA was limited to a .137 mark.

Set two saw the momentum swing to the Blue and White as the Fish pounded out a .471 attacking percentage while holding down UT despite a .382 mark of their own.

From there the Spartans would push down the pedal even further, registering back-to-back dominant sets to take the match and the Regional Championship.

The story for Tampa was certainly their bounty of big hitters as they were led by two-time Sunshine State Conference Player of the Year, Danielle Selkridge. The Virgin Islands native pounded out 20 kills on just 29 attacks for a spectacular .655 attacking percentage.

The South Region final featured arguably the two best players in the region as PBA’s Mariela Quesada joined Selkridge as elite players.

The Costa Rica product closed out her PBA career with a team-high 18 kills while finishing with another double-double as she put together 12 digs on the defensive side.

PBA’s sophomore duo of Becca Acevedo and Melissa Buckingham also proved they belong amongst the elite the South Region has to offer as Acevedo dished out 46 assists in the loss while Buckingham had a match-high 18 digs.

Following Quesada in the hitting ranks for PBA was a pair of freshman in Faith Rohn and Rachel Jones. Both players registered 10 kills each with Rohn adding in 11 digs. Fellow freshmen Rachael Holehouse (11 digs), Elly Raush (six kills) and Stephany Brown (five kills) all point to the positive future of the young PBA squad.

Beyond Selkridge’s dominant effort for UT was Holly Reschke and Jessica Yingling with 10 kills each.

The Sailfish close out their best season in their short NCAA history with an overall record of 35-4 while finishing with a 25-2 NCAA Regional record.