ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Barry University’s volleyball team won its fifth straight match, beating host Eckerd, 25-23, 20-25, 25-18, 25-13 Saturday.
The Buccaneers (15-8, 5-5 Sunshine State Conference) moved within a half-match of fourth place after Rollins (14-11, 6-5) won their match Saturday. Barry beat Rollins on the road Friday night to split the season series.
“It was a great weekend to start the second half of conference,” Bucs junior libero Jasmine Serna said on a day she had 13 of her team’s 57 digs.
That it was for Barry, who hit .339, marking the third straight match the Buccaneers have exceeded the .300 attack percentage rate. It is also the fourth time in the last five matches the Bucs attacked at a clip of .324 or better.
After splitting the first two sets, Barry got some separation in the third set when Kristina Boncheva, who finished with a career-high 16 kills on a .464 hitting rate, banged down a ball for a 15-11 Bucs lead on one of Serna’s five setups. Ivana Didanovic’s kill put Barry ahead 21-15. Tasha Begon’s putaway on one of Jenny Trinidad’s season-high 48 assists, moved the Bucs within a point of taking a 2-1 lead in the match. Trinidad’s fake-set kill and blocking error by the Tritons (12-11, 3-7) closed out the set.
“Jenny Trinidad made great strategic decisions to lead her team,” said Bucs coach Steve Hendricks, who is within two wins of matching his career-best as a head coach.
In the fourth set, Barry zipped to an 8-2 lead on one of Jayla Trombley’s 12 kills. Trinidad ripped off an ace to push the Bucs up 16-5. Begon’s kill on an assist from Didanovic 11 serves later extended the Buccaneers’ lead to 23-10. Begon put the match away with a kill after each team traded errors.
“I thought we showed great composure after dropping (Set) 2 and executing our game plan again,” said Begon, who finished with 15 kills on .344 hitting.
Didanovic had eight kills, hit .438 and had four digs. Laine Cielena had six kills and two blocks. Eckerd’s Trombley had her seventh double-double of the season after digging 10 balls. Mackenzie Redner hit .407 and had 13 kills. Kaitlyn Sibson had 19 digs, and Emily Schadow 31 assists.
The Buccaneers were 13 of 14 (92 percent) in sideout opportunities in the fourth set. Barry was credited with just three blocks to the Tritons’ five. Barry fired off seven aces to Eckerd’s three. Trinidad was responsible for three of them, and Trombley two.
“We put another quality performance together after a great win at Rollins,” Hendricks said. “The team fought extremely well, and executed the game (plan) over and over.”
Barry returns home for the next two weekends, beginning with a 7 p.m. match against Florida Tech on Friday.