The Griffin volleyball team closed out the Eckerd Tournament in St Petersburg, Florida with a pair of matches on Saturday. SHU took on Charleston (WV) in the morning then battled the host Eckerd in their final match of the day.
It was the same story in both games as the Griffins won the first set in each match before dropping the second set. SHU then closed out both matches with wins in the third and fourth sets for 3-1 victories. The Griffins end the tournament with a 2-2 record.
SHU jumped on Charleston with a 25-14 win in the first set. The Griffins hit .526 in the first set to take a 1-0 lead. The Golden Eagles bounced back and evened the match at one with a 25-15 win in the second set. An 8-0 run late in the set, put the set away as SHU took a 2-1 lead with a 25-14 third set win. The Griffins closed out the match with a 25-18 win in the fourth set.
Jillian Livorse led the Griffin attack with 16 kills.
Viktoria Farian and
Jessica Hanson each added 11 kills.
Leah Bisignani just missed double figures with 9 kills.
Brynn Fleury ran the offense with 46 assists while
Hannah Moeller paced the defense with 14 digs.
SHU again got off to a great start in the second match of the day. The Griffins hit .464 in the first set and used that for a 25-16 first set win. Eckerd tied the match at one with a 25-18 second set win. The Griffins went on a 12-0 run in the third set to turn a 7-4 deficit into a 16-7 lead. Farian had four kills during the run. Eckerd fought back to cut the Griffin lead to two at 23-21 before a kill from Bisignani and an ace from Fleury gave SHU a 2-1 lead in the match.
Seton Hill took a 4-0 lead in the fourth set. The Tritons answered back to tie the set at eight. From that point on, neither team had more than a two point advantage until the Tritons took a 21-18 lead. Two kills from Farian and one from Bisignani tied the set at 22. After a SHU service error, the Griffins used two Triton hitting errors and a Farian kill to close out the match.
Farian led the team with 14 kills and only one hitting error in the match. Bisignani added 9 kills while Livorse and Hanson each added 7. Farian and Livorse each added 15 digs.
SHU will return to the courts next weekend at the Malone Tournament in Canton, Ohio.