Women's volleyball team upsets No. 16 Hillsborough

The Eastern Florida State College women's volleyball team ended the regular season with a four-set win over No. 16 Hillsborough Community College Tuesday night at Titan Field House.

The Titans, who head to the state tournament 17-7 overall and 8-6 in the conference, defeated Hillsborough Community College 28-26, 24-26, 25-20, 25-14. It marked the first time the Titans have defeated Hillsborough CC since 2016.

Eastern Florida State College led early but Hillsborough came back and tied the set 20-20. Down 24-23, Flavia Romanelli hit a kill to tie the match and then after a Hillsborough CC point Sofia Kamke had a kill to tie things 25-25. It would be tied 26-26 before the Titans put it away on a block from Sophia Knowles and Emma Kiser to win 28-26.

The second set was just as close as the two battled point for point through the first 16 points. But the Titans would go on a run behind a couple of Fabiola Rivera kills and a big block. A Kamke kill gives the Titans a 22-18 lead before the Hawks responded and actually took a 22-24 lead. A Rachele Braccio kill cut it to one but Hillsborough would take the second set 26-24.

The Titans trailed the third set 12-6 when Emma Kiser went on a run. Kiser had two aces as the Titans would turn a six-point deficit into a one-point lead at 18-17 as Braccio, Rivera and Kamke all had kills during the run. Tied 19-19 the Titans would go on another run as Kamke registered an ace during the Titans 6-1 run to take a 2-1 lead.

The fourth set saw another Titans run in the middle of the set as Eastern Florida would score four straight to take a 17-10 lead. From there Eastern Florida State College would cruise to the victory.

Eastern Florida State College will advance to the FCSAA State Tournament for the second time in four seasons Nov. 4-6 at Titan Field House.