ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Barry University's volleyball team split a pair of matches at the Eckerd Volleyball Classic Saturday.
The Buccaneers lost to Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, 25-19, 25-15, 25-21, but rebounded to beat Wilmington, 25-22, 25-17, 25-20. Barry improved to 4-2 this season, and will host Palm Beach Atlantic at 7 p.m. Friday in the home opener prior to Saturday's 7 p.m. Alumni Match.
In the Bucs win, Jasmine Serna had a career-high 42 assists and three blocks, Ashley Carrero 11 kills and 13 digs, Jayla Trombley nine kills and a .333 hitting percentage, and Laine Cielena nine kills and four blocks.
Barry pounded 48 kills, and hit .349 as a team in the sweep of the Wildcats (3-5). Wilmington had a .157 attack percentage, putting down 37 balls. The Buccaneers committed 10 hitting errors to the Wildcats' 19. The Bucs had at least 15 kills in each set, and hit .405 in the opening set with only two errors in 37 attacking attempts.
Trailing 18-17 in the opening set against Wilmington, Barry went on a 5-0 run, which included an ace by Kristen Reid and a kill by Jayla Trombley. The Bucs went on to win three of the last five points, culminating with Carrero's kill to take the first set.
Cielena's kill in the second set gave Barry a 13-5 lead. Ivana Didanovic's kill extended the Bucs' lead to 18-10 on an assist from Katie Dooley. Trombley put away a ball to pull the Buccaneers within set point, 24-15, and Didanovic gave the Bucs a 2-0 lead in the match by banging down the set clincher after the Wildcats picked up kills from Allison Briley and Katie Shorter to pull within 24-17.
In the final set in St. Pete, the Buccaneers hit .289 with 15 kills. Dooley's kill on one of Serna's assist put the Buccaneers ahead by four, 18-14. Dooley slammed down another four serves later to push Barry closer to the sweep, 21-15. Briley's kill at the tail end of a four-point Wilmington surge pulled the Wildcats within two, 21-19. But Cielena had a kill, Mariana Ruiz served up an ace and Didanovic finished things off with her 10th kill of the match.
Barry had eight blocks to Wilmington's two.
In the loss to Rio Piedras, a team that has battled Eckerd, last year's No. 2-ranked South Region squad, two a pair of tough matches in the past two years, the Buccaneers hit .120 with 28 kills. The Gallitos (3-0) had 44 kills and a .277 attack percentage.
Carrero's kill in the opening set gave Barry a 17-15 lead. But Rio Piedras closed out the set with a 10-2 blitz. Carrero's kill in the middle set put the Bucs up, 5-4, early, before the Gallitos went on a 21-10 run to take a 2-0 match lead.
In the decisive set, Serna's kill had the Buccaneers nursing a 7-5 lead. Carrero's putaway extended the Bucs lead to 12-9. Reid had an ace to snap a 5-2 run by the Gallitos, and break a 14-14 tie. Yet even after Cielena banged down a pair of kills to pull the Buccaneers, who surrendered seven of the ensuing 11 points, within 21-19, it wasn't enough momentum to carry Barry to a set victory. Rio Piedras wrapped it up by winning four of the last six serves.
Carrero had eight kills, and Cielena seven. Serna and Jenny Trinidad split setting duties, combining for 23 assists.
Barry hit .265 in the third set -- a marked spike from the sub .060 in the opening two sets. Jarilis Torres had 15 kills, and Nicole Torres 30 assists for the Gallitos. Andrea Perez had 21 of Rio Piedras' 54 digs.
Serna led the Bucs with 11 of her team's 38 digs.
