WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The 2014 Pepsi Bash at the Beach was one to remember for the No. 22 ranked Sailfish. After a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Cedarville University to start the day, PBA pulled off the upset over No. 5 Wheeling Jesuit in five games in dramatic, come-from-behind fashion.

GAME ONE
The opening match of Saturday’s portion of the Pepsi Bash at the Beach was a doozy from start to finish, with Palm Beach Atlantic going to five sets with Cedarville University and outlasting the Yellow Jackets for the 3-2 victory.

CU established a strong defensive front in the first set, combining for 12 blocks in the opening stanza. PBA had a .000 attack percentage and had 12 errors in the set. The second set showed marked improvement, but it still took the Sailfish an extra point to get past the Jackets, 26-24.

Palm Beach Atlantic turned up the intensity in the third set, getting six kills from freshman Stephanie Pingyin and four more from Faith Rohn en route to a .406 attack percentage. With a 25-19 win, the Sailfish had the 2-1 lead over the visitors, but Cedarville would not go quietly.

In a role reversal of the third set, CU had 13 kills and only four errors while holding PBA to a meager .176 attack average. The 25-17 final sent the opening game of the Pepsi Bash at the Beach to a fifth set.

Both teams showed signs of fatigue on the block in the final game, as Palm Beach Atlantic combined for four total and Cedarville didn’t manage one. PBA hit an eye-popping .471 from the floor while Cedarville countered with a .412 percentage.

With the Yellow Jackets leading 13-11, the Sailfish got a huge kill from Rohn to make the score 13-12 and then an ace from Rachael Holehouse to knot the score. PBA then took advantage of a Cedarville error and got a huge block from Emma Ballantyne and Becca Acevedo to end the match and come away with the victory.

Rohn led the way in kills and pulled a double-double of 24 kills and 18 digs, while Sarah Ragland and Stephany Brown had 11 and 10 kills respectively.  Pingyin and Emma Ballantyne each added nine kills, while Acevedo dished out 59 assists and Holehouse added 23 digs.

GAME TWO
After the draining first game of the day, Palm Beach Atlantic came back to face AVCA No. 5 Wheeling Jesuit University in the Pepsi Bash at the Beach finale. In a battle for the ages, PBA came out victorious in the fifth set and improved to 20-0 on the season.

The Sailfish jumped ahead to an 8-3 lead in the early going, and rode that lead to the 25-20 win. Faith Rohn was fantastic once again, pounding out seven kills while also putting up five digs in the set, while the PBA front line combo of Stephany Brown and Sarah Ragland blocked seven Cardinal’s attacks.

Set two was a role reversal from the first, with a back-and-forth battle ensuing culminating in a WJU victory. The Sailfish put up a tough fight in the third set as well, getting to within a point on three separate occasions after falling behind early, but ultimately it was Wheeling Jesuit who pulled out the 25-23 win.

With their backs against the ropes, the Sailfish were desperately hanging on in the fourth set. After holding a 15-11 lead over the Cardinals, WJU came storming back and scored eight points in nine chances to take a 19-16 lead. PBA came back to tie the score at 19-19 thanks to two Jesuit mistakes and a kill from Rohn, but once again Wheeling Jesuit jumped ahead and were holding a 23-22 lead. As the perfect season seemed to be on the verge of slipping away, Katie Ballantyne smashed a kill to even the score at 23-23.

Freshman Abby Palkert came up huge off the bench for PBA in the closing moments of game four, picking up a solo block for the 24th point and then combining with Becca Acevedo for the block assist for the win.

After all the momentum swung to the home side, Palm Beach Atlantic jumped out to a 4-0 lead that eventually swelled to a 9-3 advantage in the decisive fifth set. Wheeling Jesuit tried to make a game of things, getting within four points at 12-8, but Rohn smacked two kills to get to match point. After an amazing rally, Becca Acevedo snuck an attack across to give the Sailfish the victory.

Rohn led the Sailfish once again with 23 kills, while Emma Ballantyne knocked down 16 kills and Katie Ballantyne added 10. Stephany Brown finished with seven kills and eight block assists, with Acevedo finishing with 57 assists and libero Rachael Holehouse digging up 33 Cardinal’s attacks. Freshman Lauren Alberti had 20 digs on the night while Palkert finished the night with three kills and five total blocks (1 solo, 4 assists).

The victory over No. 5 Wheeling Jesuit was the highest ranked opponent Palm Beach Atlantic has defeated in the NCAA Division II era.

Palm Beach Atlantic doesn’t have much time to celebrate the victory with South Region foe Florida Southern coming to the Rubin Arena Monday, October 13th, for a 7 pm start time.