PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Barry University's volleyball team lost to Christian Brothers, 25-13, 19-25, 25-19, 17-25, 16-14 in the first of four matches at the South Region Crossover hosted by the University of West Florida.
The Buccaneers of Barry (5-9) dropped a barnburner in their first five-set match of the season. The Buccaneers of Christian Brothers (8-11) hit .252, while Barry was limited to a .183 attack percentage.
Down a set, Barry separated itself from CBU after both sides found themselves in a 15-15 deadlock. Barry used a 3-0 run on three straight Christian Brothers errors. Barry's service error halted the separation surge briefly before Ashley Carrero and Laine Cielena pounded kills to extend the led to 20-16.
Cielena and Ivana Didanovic each put away a ball after CBU's Stephanie Korbakes' kill to give Barry a 22-17 lead. Christian Brothers cut it to 22-19 by winning the next two points, but Didanovic banged down a kill, CBU committed an attack error and Cielena fired off an ace to tie the match at a set apiece.
After dropping the middle set, Barry bounced back in a hurry in the fourth set when Didanovic served up back-to-back aces and Tashalyn Begon added another of her own to give the Bucs from Miami Shores a 10-3 lead. Jenny Trinidad's ace extended Barry's lead to 19-8. Alexis Gillis' pair of kills pulled CBU within six twice late, but Cielena put down a winner and Carrero knotted the match at 2-2 with a set-terminating ace.
Barry had nine aces in the fourth set.
In a back-and-forth decisive fifth set, Barry tied the score at 13-13 on Carrero's kill. Jayla Trombley, who pounded a team-high 14 kills and had six blocks, sent a ball into unoccupied territory to give Barry a 14-13 lead. But the South Florida Buccaneers committed three errors after arriving at match point to hand CBU the victory.
Trombley's 14 kills fell one shy of her career-high, which came last year in a five-set match against Florida Tech.
Cielena hit .346 and had 13 kills and three blocks. Didanovic had five of Barry's 17 aces. Trinidad had 33 assists. Katie Dooley had six block assists.
Barry will play No. 19 West Florida at 3 p.m. Follow via LIVE STATS and LIVE VIDEO.