SAINT LEO, Fla. – Barry University’s volleyball team lost to league foe Saint Leo, 25-23, 25-22, 25-19, Saturday.
The Buccaneers (9-6, 2-4 Sunshine State Conference) outblocked the Lions (9-5, 4-2) by a 7-3 margin. But the Bucs gave away 10 points on service errors, while the Lions committed three. Barry hit .204, and Saint Leo .207.
Barry had 103 attack opportunities to Saint Leo’s 111. The Lions had 21 attack errors, while the Buccaneers committed 12 hitting errors. The difference in this tightly-contested match was the Lions had 44 kills to Barry’s 31 – a disparity of 13 – and Saint Leo had five aces to the Bucs’ two.
Otherwise, this was an evenly-matched league contest.
The Bucs led 19-17 in the first set after a Lions attack error. Tawni Warren’s kill for the Lions tied it at 19-19 before Barry’s Tashalyn Begon put away a ball to regain control for the Bucs. The Lions climbed ahead, 23-20 on an ace and Bucs hitting error. Barry drew within 24-23 on a block by Eva Raat and Ivana Didanovic, but Lauren Campbell’s kill gave the Lions the first set.
Barry fell behind 17-12 in the second set before Jayla Trombley’s kill stopped Saint Leo’s momentum. The Bucs cut the deficit to three on a Lions setting error, but Saint Leo secured the next two points to push its lead back to 22-17. Trombley’s kill to cap a 4-0 Bucs surge pulled Barry within one, 22-21. Her kill two serves later kept it a one-point gap, 23-22, but Alexa Griffith-Hardy and Campbell closed the set with back-to-back kills to give the Lions a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Buccaneers had 10 kills in each of the first two sets. The Lions had a combined 29 in the first two sets.
Begon’s kill in the third set put the Bucs ahead, 7-5 early. But the Lions rattled off five of the next six points to take a 10-8 lead. Saint Leo extended its lead to 18-13 on a block by Jillian Stolzenburg. Begon’s kill made it 21-16, but it was too little too late as the Lions wrapped up the third set to seal the sweep.
Trombley paced the Buccaneers with 10 kills. Begon had eight, and Didanovic six and three blocks. Jasmine Serna had 18 of the Bucs’ 31 assists. Brittany Jaco was the only Barry player with double-digit digs, finishing with 13.
Campbell had 15 kills, and Griffith-Hardy had nine.
Barry fell to 5-4 in three-set matches, having dropped their past four after a 5-0 start in matches the Bucs swept their opponents.
The Buccaneers will host rival Nova Southeastern at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Health & Sports Center before heading up to West Palm Beach for the back end of a home-and-home with No. 23 Palm Beach Atlantic on Wednesday night.