TAMPA, Fla. – Palm Beach Atlantic had little trouble with the Bears from New York Institute of Technology in the first and third sets, sweeping NYIT 25-21, 25-18, 25-18 in the NCAA Elite Eight on Thursday night. This year’s event is being held at the Bob Martinez Athletic Center on the campus of the University of Tampa.

The Sailfish (30-4) jumped out early to a 10-4 lead in the first and never trailed despite numerous rallies from the Bears (28-8). Sarah Ragland picked up seven of her 10 kills in the set and hit .500. She finished the match at .318 as the team hit .240 for the match.

Faith Rohn came out firing from the start with five kills in the opening set as the team hit .286. Rohn added four kills in the second and five more in the third to finish with a match-high 14 kills on 32 attacks with just one error.

The Bears rallied in the first to close to within two at 18-16 but Ragland ended the rally with a kill to start a 5-0 run for the Sailfish. Emma Ballantyne’s third kill of the set ended the opening set 25-21 in favor of the Sailfish.

After just one tie and no lead changes in the first set the second featured eight ties and five lead changes as NYIT came out to a quick 3-1 lead. PBA battled back to go ahead at 9-8 on a Bears attack error but couldn’t shake them until later. A kill by Faith Rohn brought the set even at 14-14 as the ‘Fish used a 5-1 run to gain a little breathing room. After NYIT closed to 20-18, PBA scored the final five points as Ragland provided the game-winner.

In the third it was all PBA from the start. The Sailfish led 10-3 before a timeout from the Bears. NYIT fought back to close to within two at 19-17 but the Sailfish again closed the set well, winning seven of the final eight points to earn the sweep.

Ally Rohn had five kills in the final set to give her 10 on the night to go along with 18 assists and 12 digs, her NCAA D2-leading 10th triple-double of the year. The freshman also had three blocks as the team picked up seven on the night. Ragland led the way with four as Emma Ballantyne added three.

Rachael Holehouse took sole possession of first place on the school’s career digs leaderboard with her first of the match, finishing the three-setter with a match-high 18. Susie Forbes added 11 as the defense forced the Bears to hit just .131 for the match. Alexandra Roberts led the team with 19 assists and two aces.

The Sailfish’s three-set win was the only sweep of the day as each of the first three matches went to four sets. PBA will take on Wayne State (Neb.) on Friday in the second semifinal at 7:30 p.m. The Wildcats defeated Carson-Newman 3-1 (25-20, 25-22, 18-25, 25-16) earlier on Thursday. Also advancing to the other semifinal was Wheeling Jesuit over Arkansas-Fort Smith and Western Washington over Rockhurst. The semifinal between Wheeling Jesuit and Western Washington is set to begin at 5 p.m. on Friday.

Postgame Press Conference