ST. PAUL, Minn.- The 2015 season for the Palm Beach Atlantic volleyball team began with a bang on Friday afternoon as the No. 15-ranked (AVCA) Sailfish split a pair of matches at the Holiday Inn and Suites Lake Elmo Volleyball Clash. The day began with a thrilling come-from-behind 3-2 win over the host Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears while the ‘Fish nearly pulled off a similar feat in a 3-2 loss to Winona State University in the nightcap.

The team’s fortunes against the No. 2-ranked (AVCA) Golden Bears saw the ‘Fish knock off a top-five opponent for the second time in as many seasons after pulling the same trick against then No. 5-ranked Wheeling Jesuit University last season at PBA’s own tournament.

The season-opening tilt saw the ‘Fish hand Concordia-St. Paul their first season-opening defeat since 2008 with the Golden Bears establishing a Division II dynasty by winning seven of the last eight NCAA Division II national championships.

Perhaps mentally and physically gassed after their thrilling win the ‘Fish would fall victim against another tough opponent in their second match. PBA would fall behind two sets to none to Winona State and despite their best efforts were unable to pull out a second improbable 3-2 victory twice in the same day as they eventually fell to the Warriors in five sets.

PBA 3, Concordia St. Paul 2

CSP quickly built a 2-0 lead in the season-opening match as they claimed 25-22 and 25-16 wins over PBA.

The Sailfish would prove they had plenty of fight left in them however as they stormed back in the next two sets to knot the match at 2-2 by claiming back-to-back 25-21 set victories.

After jumping out to a quick 8-2 lead in the fifth and final set PBA had to hold off a ferocious comeback by the hosts that saw the Golden Bears rattle off five straight points to get back within a point of a tie.

Needing to dig deep PBA would find a way as they finalized the exciting victory with a 15-13 win courtesy of a kill by freshman Jen Cook to close things out.

PBA received big efforts up and down their roster including several familiar and new faces making a sizable impact. Senior All-American Faith Rohn led all PBA players with 20 kills (.288 hitting percentage) while committing just three errors and adding in 17 digs. Freshman sister Ally Rohn was next in line with a jack-of-all-trades kind of performance in her collegiate debut by producing 25 assists, 15 digs, 14 kills and five block assists.

Sophomore middle-blocker Sarah Ragland proved very efficient with nine kills on just 15 swings (.600 hitting percentage) while Emma Ballantyne picked up where she left off from last season by adding in eight kills.

Alexandra Roberts (formerly Marszalek) produced a solid season debut alongside Ally Rohn at the setter position with 30 assists and nine digs while Ragland proved to be a big stopper on defense with a match-high 11 blocks (10 block assists, one solo block). Senior libero Rachael Holehouse led the PBA backrow with 18 digs.

Overall Palm Beach Atlantic connected for a .214 team hitting percentage (63 kills, 26 errors) while limiting CSP to a .179 team hitting mark.

Winona State 3, PBA 2

After their exciting victory over the tradition-rich Golden Bears PBA was forced to turn around and play another solid program in Winona State who finished 19-8 last season while playing as a member of the always-strong Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).

 Much like their match against CSP the ‘Fish did not start out hot as evidenced by their team’s hitting percentage as WSU road .300 plus hitting percentages in each of the first two sets to claim 25-18 and 25-11 wins.

Forcing another daunting 0-2 hole the Sailfish responded again as they righted the ship to pull out back-to-back 25-21 wins in sets three and four respectively to force another five set culmination.

Unfortunately their success would end there as Winona State cruised to a 15-5 win in the final set to claim the victory.

After a strong hitting performance in their opening match PBA fell back down to Earth with just a .120 mark in the second match of the day as they produced 49 kills and 27 errors in 183 total attacks.

Faith Rohn shook off a rough start in the match to once again put up solid totals with a match-high 16 kills (.145 hitting percentage) while chipping in 13 digs for another double-double.

Emma Ballantyne and Ragland each finished with nine kills to aid the cause while Ally Rohn finished with seven kills.

Holehouse came through with a big defensive showing by totaling 31 digs to lead the defensive cause.

PBA will look to close out a successful trip to the Gopher State on Saturday when they take on Central Washington University at 12 pm (CST).