Jacob Stout
Lions’ Pride Assistant Sports Editor

Kaitlin McKenna and Emily Calderon-Reyes led Saint Leo University on the attack as the Lions handily beat the visiting Rollins College Tars three sets to none on Wednesday September 16 in front of a black-out crowd at the Bowman Center. McKenna led all attackers with 14 kills on 23 attempts while Calderon-Reyes finished with 11 kills. Danielle Bletso dominated the defensive end with seven block assists while the entire Rollins team had six.

In the first conference matchup for both teams, the Lions took a close first set 25-22 then cruised to the sweep with a score of 25-17 in the second set and a convincing 25-14 in the third set in a best of five match.

After exchanging the first few points it looked like the Lions might take a big lead after going on a 4-0 run but the Tars answered with a 4-0 run of their own to take a one point lead 7-6. The two teams continued battling; exchanging point for point but Saint Leo took the lead at 12-11 with a big kill from junior Leah Perry on one of senior Michelle Nogueras’s 39 assists. A couple small runs by the Lions made it 18-14 and the visiting Tars took their first timeout.

The timeout seemed to get the Tars back on their game as they ran off the next three points to come within one point at 18-17. Another small exchange of points and the Tars had tied the game again at 20-20. From there McKenna showed what she could do on the attack and the Tars took their second timeout with the score Saint Leo University-23, Rollins College-21

Rollins came out strong again, scoring the first point out of the timeout to make it a one point game but a ball handling error by Kayla Austin and an attack error by Mikayla Pierce sealed the first set for the Lions.

The Tars seemed like they would hang around again in the second set as the kept it close. With the score 9-7 and the Lions in the lead, the fans at the Bowman Center saw the longest rally of the night that ended with an attack error by Nikki Hartman and gave Saint Leo a 10-7 lead. The Lions took the next three points to finish off a 5-0 run with a McKenna kill.

A couple two point runs by Rollins brought the Tars closer at 15-12 but Saint Leo once again dug deep and took the next four points with the help of an attack error by Jenny Sherwood. A kill by Kiana Parks of Rollins, then a three point run by the lions, punctuated by a kill from Nogueras, gave the Lions a 22-13 lead.

After exchanging a few more points, two kills by Calderon-Reyes, with assists from Nogueras, sealed the second set victory for the Lions at 25-17.

Two kills each for McKenna and Calderon-Reyes, along with a couple attacking errors by the Tars, saw Saint Leo take six of the first eight points in the third set. Rollins tried to climb back into the set by scoring a couple points, but the serving of Bletso proved too much for the Tars and the Lions ran off five straight points causing Rollins to take a timeout.

Three kills by McKenna gave Saint Leo three of the next four points. With the score Saint Leo-16, Rollins-6 the teams exchanged points until a kill by Leah Perry sealed the set win for the Lions. The final score of 25-14 gave the home side a 3-0 sweep.

Michelle Nogueras and Bruna Rocha also contributed on the defensive end with 13 and 10 digs respectively. Kiana Parks led the way for the Tars with 28 assists, while Karin Barborikova led Rollins defensively with 12 digs.

Rollins plays host to Florida Southern next in another conference matchup on Saturday while Saint Leo travels to Florida Tech. The Lions’ next home matchup is against Lynn on September 25 at 7 PM.