No. 2 Tampa Reigns Triumphant Over Lynn

Tampa, Fla. – The No. 2 Spartans Narrowly Escape Defeat Against Knights In 5 Set Thriller

Final Score: Tampa 3 (1: 25-16, 2: 20-25, 3: 25-13, 4: 25-27, 5: 15-11), Lynn 2

Records: No. 3 Tampa (21-0, 12-0 SSC), Lynn (16-7, 7-5 SSC)

Location: Bob Martinez Sports Center | Tampa, Fla.

HOW IT HAPPENED: 

First Set: After dropping the first point of the match, Tampa went on to score 6 of the next 7 to give them the early lead. Mackenzie Dufresne had back-to-back aces that added to the Spartan lead, now 11-6, over the Fighting Knights. With the Tampa lead not getting any smaller, Lynn's head coach, Adam Milewski, was forced to call a timeout down 17-12. However, the Spartans maintained their steady lead over the Knights until the visitors needed another timeout with the set drawing to a close at 21-15. Jenna Davis soon closed out the set, where Tampa hit .316 as a team, with a kill.  | Score: 25-16 Tampa

Second Set: The Fighting Knights came out hot to start the second set, scoring the first 3 points, and eventually 7 of the first 8 that included an ace over the Spartans, causing Coach Catanach to call an early timeout for Tampa. Lynn's lead early in the set got as big as 11-3 before Tampa started to chip away; Later increasing to 18-11, Lynn's dominant second set run was paused with another Tampa timeout. Coming out of the break, the Spartans went on a much-needed 8-4 run, cutting the opposition's lead to 22-19 as the Fighting Knights called their first timeout of the set. The Spartan comeback effort was silenced as a block from the Knights ended the second set of the night. | Score: 25-20 Lynn

Third Set: The third set began with back-and-forth action that resulted in the first 8 points of the set being split, but after a fast 7-1 run in favor of Tampa, Lynn was forced to call their first timeout as they fell down 11-5. The Spartan run wasn't interrupted with the timeout as they scored 6 of the next 9, which included two kills from Davis and Kalli Cors with one more coming from Tess Schrenger before the Knights could call their second timeout, now down 17-8. The two teams exchanged blows for the remainder of the set until another kill from Cors ended the third set.| Score: 25-13 Tampa

Fourth Set: Nathaly Perez opened the fourth set with a strong kill that fueled an early 7-3 run for the Spartans. However, the Knights eventually caught back up and even took a lead in the middle of the set, and after an ace from Lynn put the score at 16-13, in their favor, Tampa called their first timeout of the set. The break helped the Spartans gain enough momentum to cut the lead down to 21-19, following a kill from Cors which sent Lynn into to a timeout of their own and even a second timeout just 4 plays later as Tampa tied the set at 22 all. The set, which had 9 ties and 5 lead changes, ended after an attack error from Tampa| Score: 27-25 Lynn

Fifth Set: The Spartans took the first point of the final set and kept a lead until the end. A very strong kill from Dufresne put the Spartans up 8-5 as the two teams switched sides, but the Knights wanted to call a timeout before resuming play. Coming out of this timeout, Jenna Vaske recorded two kills and Dufresne tallied another for herself as well, which resulted in Lynn taking another timeout in hopes of saving the match. The Knights scored 3 straight points out of their second timeout and Coach Catanach called his team's first timeout of the set before the run could continue. A Zoey Seput-assisted kill from Davis ended the set and match.  | Score: 15-11 Tampa

INSIDE THE STATS:

• Perez and Cors each recorded 14 kills
• Emily Noe tallied 30 assists
• JJ Ramirez led the match with 26 digs