Volleyball team falls to No. 1 Florida Southwestern in four sets

The Eastern Florida State College women's volleyball became just the second team this season to take a set from No. 1 Florida Southwestern State College, falling in four sets Saturday at Titan Field House.

The Titans took the first set 25-20, but FSW took the next three 25-20, 25-16, 25-16 to improve to 6-0 in the conference.

The Titans came out and traded points with the No. 1 team in the country in the first set as the first set was tied nine times. Down 15-13, Emma Kiser recorded a kill and Rachele Braccio hit back-to-back aces to tie the match 15-15.  Then the Titans were down 18-16 but Kiser served them back to the lead as Juliana De Acharan had a kill for the 19-18 lead,

After a timeout by Florida Southwestern, the Bucs would tie things 19-19. But from there the Titans would go on a key four-point run to give them a 23-19 lead. Sophia Knowles would make it 24-20 with a kill and a service error gave the Titans the first set.

Eastern Florida State College would continue its strong play to begin the second set as De Acharan opened the set with six straight service points including a couple of aces.

But Florida Southwestern would work their way back into the second set and eventually tied it 12-12. The match would be tight and once again was tied 19-19 but this tie it was the Bucs who finished strong, winning six of the final seven points to tie the match 1-1.

Tied 1-1, Florida Southwestern grabbed the momentum and took the third set 25-16. The fourth set saw the Titans once again hang with the undefeated Bucs early as the match was tied 9-9. But a four-point run by Florida Southwestern gave them the lead and they went on to post their 14th win of the season.

Eastern Florida State College fell to 3-3 in the Suncoast Conference and 12-4 overall. The Titans had four players with at least seven kills in the match as Paulina Dobreva finished with 12, Sofia Kamke had 10, Emma Kiser nine and Sophia Knowles added seven. Juliana De Acharan finished with 32 assists and Gaia Riedmuller had 18 digs in the match.

Eastern Florida State College will be back at Titan Field House Thursday night against Hillsborough Community College who is also 3-3 in conference play this season. The match is scheduled for 6 p.m. and admission is free.