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TAMPA, Fla. (November 18, 2011) - After earning their second straight postseason bid, the Rollins Tars volleyball team ended their quest for a championship with a 3-2 (16-25, 25-19, 25-27, 25-23, 13-15) loss to the No. 22 Eckerd Tritons in the second round of the NCAA South Region Tournament.
Rollins wraps up the 2011 season with a 24-11 overall record, while the Tritons improve to 27-4 and advance to the finals to face top-seed and host Tampa. Last season, the Tars fell short in the second round, as well, falling in three to West Florida.
Right side hitter Kelly Merideth led the Tars offense with her seventh double-double of the season with 16 kills (.340 attack percentage) and 13 digs. Camille Indest and Megan Hodges added 13 kills apiece, while Collyn Welsch chipped in with 12.
Kiana Parks recorded her fifth double-double with 50 assists and 14 digs, to go along with four service aces and one kill.
Down two games to one, Rollins rallied late in game four to win 25-23. With only four ties and two lead changes, the final tie of the set came at 23-all on a kill by Merideth, forcing an Eckerd timeout. Rollins recorded the following point on a kill by Indest as she knocked one down the middle of the court. A block assist by Indest and Merideth kept the Tars alive, evening the series at two games each.
The fift- set thriller saw six ties and only one lead change coming at the 12-11 mark in favor of Eckerd. Rollins won the first point on a bad set by the Tritons and rolled to a 3-1 lead on a kill by Welsch. The Tritons then played point-for-point with Rollins, but the Tars pulled away with a two-point lead on an error by EC, 8-6.
Eckerd then managed to come within one at the 11-10 mark as one of the Tritons was in the net, but used a Rollins defensive miscue to even the score at 11-all. A kill by Ariana Chinn gave the Tritons a one-point led and set the pace for the rest of the set. With Eckerd up 14-11, Megan Hodges registered back-to-back kills to keep the Tars alive, 14-13, forcing an Eckerd timeout. The timeout killed the Tars' momentum as Eckerd was able to record the final point of the set on another kill by Chinn to advance to the regional finals.
With the Tars' 24-11 overall record, head coach Sindee Snow posted her fifth 20+ win season at the helm of the Tars volleyball program. For more information on the Tars, check out RollinsSports.com.
ROLLINS Volleyball
