TAMPA, Fla. – Palm Beach Atlantic volleyball played like a team on a mission Thursday afternoon, traveling to the University of Tampa for the opening round of the NCAA South Region Tournament to take on the University of West Florida. The Sailfish were victorious 3-1 over the Argonauts and advance to the second round, playing Friday evening at 5:00 pm.

PBA opened up the match with a hard-fought 25-21 loss to UWF. Both teams had little trouble finding success on the attack, with the ‘Fish attacking at a .300 clip and the Argos finishing at a stout .400. Trailing one set to none, Palm Beach Atlantic came out with a vengeance in the second set.

Wasting no time, the Sailfish jumped ahead early and never looked back. Though not hitting a high percentage (.185), they managed to keep West Florida at -0.50 for the set. Sarah Ragland, after a relatively quiet first set with only one kill, started to come alive in the second. The rookie finished the second stanza with a set-high four kills, while junior Faith Rohn added three in the 25-13 victory.

The third set was in PBA control from start to finish as well, with the final score concluding at 25-19. Palm Beach Atlantic was strong on their block, finishing with six total for the set, while they brought their attack percentage back up with a .294 showing.

With first-round advancement on the line, the Sailfish came out in the fourth set and were greeted by an Argonauts team that was not going to give up without a fight. The two teams were locked in a heavyweight bout until the end, where Ragland once again came up big.

After UWF climbed back into the game and cut the PBA lead to just one at 23-22, the freshman got one of the biggest kills of her young career for her eighth in the set and put the ‘Fish at match point. West Florida took care of business after winning the serve back, sending a serve into the net to give Palm Beach Atlantic the win.

Ragland finished with a career-best 17 kills and also added eight total blocks (2 solo, 6 assist), while Rohn matched her kills total to help lead the way for the Sailfish. Another freshman, Stephanie Pingyin, turned in eight kills while junior Stephany Brown chipped in seven. Libero Rachael Holehouse turned in a match-high 19 digs and setter Becca Acevedo had 40 assists.

Palm Beach Atlantic returns to action Friday night at 5:00 pm taking on the winner of the match between No. 2 seeded Florida Southern College and No. 7 seeded Shorter University.