WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Palm Beach Atlantic volleyball team played its home opener on Friday night against Wheeling. Tonight was the first night the Sailfish and the Cardinals had faced off since 2021.

PBA (4-1) has some history against Wheeling (2-2) as the Sailfish faced off against the Cardinals in the 2015 national championship match. Tonight's intensity was fitting for the rivalry as the foes took five sets to battle it out. PBA battled back from a 2-1 deficit to force an epic fifth set. The Sailfish had the chance to put the match away five times, but WU refused to give in. The Cardinals took the final set  23-21 to seal the match.

Abbie Zylstra led PBA in kills, totaling 23 on 68 swings. She hit .176 and finished with 13 digs. Taylor Nelson and Harper Stokes tied for 16 kills each. Nelson hit .148 with seven digs and three blocks. Stokes was phenomenal Friday night, hitting .667, tying for the third-highest mark in a match in PBA's D2 era. The sophomore totaled seven blocks on the front line. 

Setter Jayden Otto etched her name in PBA's record book, totaling 68 assists, the most in a single game in PBA's D2 era. She added 10 digs and four blocks to her stat line. Payton Ahrenstorff racked up 35 digs, the fifth-most in the Sailfish D2 era. Kaileigh Ammons and Mary Morgan Formby tied with 14 kills each, both hitting over .300.

PBA led most of the first set after a 6-0 run. Three consecutive kills from Zylstra put them ahead 13-9. Wheeling battled back to take a 21-20 lead, but Formby came up big down the stretch. A block and two kills from the junior helped the Sailfish win the first set, 25-23.

The Sailfish attack struggled in the second set. PBA's offense was held to a .149 hitting percentage in the second set. Wheeling won the set 25-16 to even the match. The Cardinals led for most of the third set as well. A 7-1 run by the visitors gave them a 23-16 lead that was too much for PBA to overcome. WU won the set 25-21 to take a 2-1 lead.

The teams traded leads throughout the fourth set. It took until the fourth set to get one, but PBA picked up three points on service aces. The trio of Stokes, Zylstra, and Nelson helped keep the Sailfish alive as PBA won the set 25-21.

PBA seized the momentum in the fifth set after a block from Otto and Ammons capped off a 6-0 run and gave the 'Fish a 10-6 lead. The Wheeling front line got the Cardinals back into the set with a pair of blocks to make it 11-10 PBA. The Sailfish had the chance to win the match on five separate occasions but could not put the Cardinals away. A service error by PBA allowed Wheeling to tie the set at 18. The visitors failed to put PBA away three times, but the fourth attempt ended the set, 23-21, and clinched the match for WU.

Wheeling excelled at limiting unforced errors. WU did not record a service error in the match. Meanwhile, PBA's serves totaled 13 errors to just two aces. The Cardinals recorded just eight unforced attack errors on 214 attempts.

PBA finishes its Bash at the Beach on Saturday with two matches against Maryville and Rockhurst. The first match against Maryville takes place at 1 p.m. in Rubin Arena.