TAMPA, Fla. – No. 17 Palm Beach Atlantic put their seven match winning streak on the line Saturday against No.2 University of Tampa in a rematch of last year’s NCAA South Regional championship. After splitting the first two sets the Spartans prevailed to snapping the Sailfish’s streak.

The Sailfish (10-3) fought back after dropping the first set 25-19 to win the second 27-25 after fighting off a 24-21 deficit. Tampa went on to win the final two sets 25-20, 25-12.

PBA led for most of the second set, taking the lead at 10-9 after the teams tied five times earlier in the set. Tampa rallied to take the lead at 21-20 after PBA lost an 18-12 advantage.

Facing a three point deficit and the prospect of falling behind 2-0 in the match, the ‘Fish battled back. Faith Rohn picked up a kill followed by an attack error from Tampa’s All-American Berkley Whaley. Jen Cook followed with a kill to even the set at 24-24. Stephany Brown followed that with a solo block on Whaley as the Sailfish grabbed a 25-24 lead. After an attack error by the ‘Fish, Emma Ballantyne gave PBA set point again with her third kills of the set. An attack error by Tampa gave the Sailfish the set and knotted the match at 1-1.

Jen Cook led the team in that second set with seven kills as the team hit a match-best .245. Tampa hit .267 in the set tied for their lowest in the match.

After intermission the tide turned in favor of the hosts. The Spartans hit .267 in the third and .536 in the fourth while the Sailfish were limited to .114 and .069. The Sailfish held an early lead in the third at 4-3 but Tampa went on a 6-0 run to take a 9-4 lead and never let up. For the match PBA hit .166 while Tampa hit .357.

Cook and Emma Ballantyne led the team with nine kills each as Ballantyne hit .471. Her sister – Katie - added four kills on nine attempts, good for a .444 attack percentage. Emma also had two block assists and four digs.

Rachael Holehouse led the defense with 24 digs and also chipped in with six assists. Ally Rohn and Faith Rohn each had 11 digs with Faith adding eight kills and Ally producing seven with 20 assists. Alexandra Roberts had 15 assists on the afternoon. Sarah Ragland and Stephany Brown each had one solo and two block assists as Brown added seven kills.

Tampa will make their first-ever trip to Rubin Arena on Nov. 6. The Sailfish will return home for a pair of matchups next weekend, hosting Embry-Riddle on Friday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. and Rollins on Oct. 10 at 4 p.m.