WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.- If you left the Rubin Arena early on Wednesday night you missed quite a show. The Palm Beach Atlantic volleyball team gave their fans plenty to cheer about late as the Sailfish shook off a couple of key injuries while also playing from behind as they upended Eckerd (Fla.) College for the first time in PBA’s history as a NCAA institution. It would take five sets as the Fish scored a 15-10 win in set five to claim their 13th straight victory of the season.

With both Christina Alessi and Elly Raush unavailable to the team due to injuries, the Fish and head coach Bob White would look to many other sources for production on Wednesday evening before another solid crowd at the Rubin Arena.

Needing their top players to step up in the absence of two starters due to injury, the Fish got that and then some as senior Mariela Quesada led the young Fish to an improbable win over the veteran-laded Tritons (8-5) squad. The 3-2 win also proved even sweeter following last season’s 3-2 loss to Eckerd in St. Petersburg at the MacArthur Center.

The Tritons showed why they have received votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) National Poll at different times this season as they jumped out of the gate early.

EC earned a hard-fought 25-23 win in the opener as they produced a .176 attacking percentage while limiting PBA to only a .140 mark.

Looking to put a 2-0 lead on the Fish, the Tritons went to set point on three different occasions in the second set as they led 24-21 only to see PBA fight back for a 27-25 win to even the match.

With White looking to try out some different lineup rotations in hopes for an edge, the Tritons would be the ones grabbing hold of the momentum in set three as they held PBA to their first negative hitting percentage (-.50) for one set of the season while claiming the 25-15 victory.

The Fish would respond however, as they were called to so many times on the night, with a 25-18 win of their own in set four as they rallied to force the unlikely fifth set.

Tied 8-8 through the first-half of set five, the Fish would rattle off seven of the next nine points as a blocking attempt by the Tritons front line on a Faith Rohn attack sealed the match as it glanced off the antenna for a PBA win as the Blue and White collected the 15-10 victory.

Quesada had a monster match as she fought through double and triple blocks all night long to collect a season-high 25 kills while producing a .233 hitting percentage on an astonishing 73 total attacks.

Rohn picked up some huge kills late as she reached a new career-high of 17 kills while finishing with a double-double as she managed 15 digs as well.

Freshman Rachel Jones fell just outside of double-figures in kills with nine while the Fish also got a solid effort from sophomore Brytney Annis who stepped up with six kills.

After a shaky start with their serve receive, the Sailfish bounced back in a big way thanks to the strong play of sophomore libero Melissa Buckingham down the stretch as she came away with a career-high of 31 digs. Quesada and freshman Rachael Holehouse also reached double-figures in digs with 13 and 10 respectively.

Sophomore Becca Acevedo showed great poise from the setter position as well as she led her team with 56 assists in the win.

Eckerd was paced by the outstanding work of sophomore right-side hitter Ali McAlvany who managed 20 kills and 11 digs for a double-double. Alex Laton added in 13 kills with a match-high .370 attacking percentage to go with five block assists.

Olivia Fraser led the EC blocking efforts with seven block assists as the Tritons produced 20 total blocks on the night compared to just eight for the Sailfish.

Madison Burr and Emily Schadow split the setting duties for Eckerd with Burr producing 25 assists and Schadow adding in 18 assists. Kaleigh Humphrey led the Tritons backrow with 21 digs.

PBA has little time to celebrate their win as they will play in 24 hours again at home with a match against Southeastern University beginning at 7 pm.