Women's volleyball team falls to Polk State in four sets

The Eastern Florida State College women's volleyball team struggled Thursday night in their home opener, falling to Polk State College in a Suncoast Conference matchup.

The Titans lost in four sets, falling 26-24, 25-15, 19-25, 25-23 at Titan Field House on the Melbourne campus.

The first set saw the Titans take the lead behind solid serving from Yuliedy Torres, who had five straight serves that led to points to give the Titans a 16-12 lead. They would continue to hold onto the lead and actually had a chance to win the first set, leading 24-21 but Polk State College rallied for five straight points to steal the first set.

The second set was all Polk State College as they jumped out to a 13-4 lead and built it to a 10-point advantage before the Titans went on a 5-0 run. But that would be as close as the Titans would get, dropping the second set as Polk State College went up 2-0 in the match.

Polk State College would continue to put the pressure on early in the third set, leading 4-1 before a Desiree Cruz ace helped the Titans get back to within one. But once again Polk State rattled off four of the next five points to regain a lead. Down 12-9, Fabiola Rivera had a couple of kills that brought the match to 12-12. Another Rivera kill put the Titans up 23-18 and this time they finished, winning the third set 25-19 and sent the match to a fourth set.

Polk State College took a 15-9 lead and looked like they were on their way to an easy fourth set win, but the Titans had one last run in them, taking a 19-18 lead on a Cruz block. The set would be tied 22-22 but a couple of big plays by the Eagles gave them the set and the match.

Eastern Florida State College fell to 1-3 overall and 0-3 in the conference with the loss. The Titans will travel to Pasco-Hernando for a tri-match on Saturday. Eastern Florida State College will play Gulf Coast State College and host Pasco-Hernando State College Saturday afternoon in New Port Richey.