WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Palm Beach Atlantic volleyball team concluded regular season play on Saturday with a match against Saint Leo.
PBA entered today's match coming off a big 3-0 win against Eckerd on Friday night. The Sailfish finished their regular season strong, sweeping Saint Leo in a decisive 3-0 victory. Saturday's victory is the fourth straight for PBA ended the regular season by winning 10 of its last 12 matches.
Jazz Schmidt led PBA with a team-high 13 kills with 12 assists, four aces, and three digs, hitting an unstoppable .520.
Amber Rowoldt tallied eight kills, hitting an efficient .318 from the outside with seven digs.
Alyse Cundiff added six kills with 13 digs, hitting .250 in the match.
Mary Morgan Formby had five kills and tied
Anna Gregerson with a team-high four blocks.
Alyssa Avitia finished two digs shy of a double-double, leading PBA with 24 assists along with eight digs. Libero
Ally Smith totaled 12 digs with three aces.
The Sailfish set the tone early in the first set as a 7-1 run, including kills from Schmidt, Formby, and Hooper gave PBA a 13-8 lead. The 'Fish kept their distance from the Lions through the rest of the set. A 5-1 run with kills from Schmidt and Cundiff and a block from Gregerson and Cundiff extended PBA's lead to 17-11. The Sailfish shut down the idea of a Lions comeback, taking the first set, 25-17.
PBA got out to another early lead in the second set, including a 6-0 run with a pair of kills from Schmidt and Hooper giving the 'Fish a 16-8 lead. That gave PBA enough breathing room to hold off the Lions the rest of the set. PBA dominated its way to a 25-16 set win. The Sailfish hit a match-best .438 in the set.
The third and final set followed a similar script. After bouncing back from an early 3-0 deficit, the Sailfish pulled away with a 9-1 run with kills from Schmidt and Rowoldt along with two aces from Avitia which gave the hosts an 18-10 advantage. Saint Leo attempted to chip away at the lead but kills from
Marlena Kincaid,
Caroline Henderson and Rowoldt capped off the 25-18 set win to complete the sweep for PBA.
The 'Fish outhit Saint Leo, .396 - .196 in the match with PBA only totaling five attacking errors in the match. The 'Fish posted a 67 percent side-out percentage which stopped any Saint Leo runs or comebacks. PBA posted 10 service aces in the match compared to just two for the Lions.
The Sailfish, who are currently ranked No. 7 in the NCAA South Region rankings, will find out their fate on Monday night when the bracket for the NCAA national tournament is released.
