WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Palm Beach Atlantic volleyball rolled to their 11th straight win to start the season on Friday night, sweeping Tampa 26-24, 25-15, 25-23 to improve to 11-0 on the season and 6-0 in the Sunshine State Conference.
The Sailfish have defeated Tampa (3-9, 1-3 SSC) for the fourth straight time including three straight in Rubin Arena. The win is the 36th straight overall for PBA at home, a streak that goes back to the 2014 season.
Ally Rohn collected her fourth triple double of the season with a team-leading 12 kills, 19 assists and 13 digs. She hit .357 for the match and also added a pair of service aces.
PBA took leads in sets one and three only to see the Spartans rally late in each set. The 'Fish led 23-19 and 24-22 in set one before Tampa bounced back to tie it at 24-24. An attack error from the Spartans followed by a block from
Maddie Span and
Jazz Schmidt gave PBA the final two points they needed to take an early 1-0 advantage in the match.
In set two the 'Fish were too much to handle for Tampa as PBA took an early 10-2 lead, eventually pushing the lead out to 11 at 17-6. In the third the Spartans took a lead on three separate occasions midway through the set before the 'Fish pulled away on an 8-3 run to take a 19-15 lead. The Spartans scored five straight late to tie it at 23-23, but a kill by
Sophie Hoekstra followed by one from Schmidt secured the 10th sweep of the season for the Sailfish.
Schmidt finished the match with nine kills and a .381 attack while chipping in five assists, five digs and two blocks. Redshirt freshman
Jennie Anderson stepped into a starting role and collected seven kills on 14 attacks and no errors while also adding two blocks. That duo, along with fellow freshman
Abigail Singleton, collected 19 kills and two errors on 41 attacks, a .439 attack percentage.
Susie Forbes and
Raegan Grooms led the team with 14 digs each as Grooms added seven kills and two blocks.
Molly Burkhardt collected 18 assists along with a pair of kills. Hoekstra finished with four kills while Span collected three to go along with two blocks.
The Sailfish are back in action on Saturday at 4 p.m. as they host Florida Southern.
