Women's volleyball team battles No. 1 FSW, falls in five sets

The Eastern Florida State College women's volleyball team battled No. 1 ranked Florida Southwestern State College in a five-set thriller on Saturday at Titan Field House on the Melbourne campus.

The No. 16 ranked Titans lost 25-17, 17-25, 20-25, 25-20, 20-22 to go to 2-2 in the Citrus Conference.

The fifth set was back and forth between the two teams as the Titans jumped out to a 4-0 lead but the Bucs came back to tie things 4-4. Down 14-12, an FSW serve went out and then Mikayla Lamb hit a nice serve and the hit was blocked by EFSC's Diara Gaye and Kira Valeska Heide to tie the match 14-14. Gaye tied things 15-15 with a kill. The Titans had a chance to close it after a big block gave them a 16-15 lead. But FSW tied it and then had another chance to end it after an ace.

Once again the Titans responded with a kill by Emma Cook to tie it 17-17. Sara Gamboa had a big kill for FSW and they take the 18-17 lead. But a service error tied things back up at 18-18. Jordyn Cox with a kill made it 19-19. FSW would take a 20-19 lead on another Gamboa kill. But the Titans would stay alive on a Cox kill.

Florida Southwestern's Magi Milicevic made it 21-20 and then finished it with her 17th kill of the match.

There were 11 ties in just the fifth set alone.

Eastern Florida State College took the early advantage by jumping out to a 15-9 lead in the first set as Gaye had a couple of big kills and was a perfect 4-for-4 in the first set.

After winning the first set 25-17, Florida Southwestern bounced back to win the second set 25-17 and tie the match.

Tied 17-17 in the third set, Florida Southwestern would score four straight and go on to take the third set 25-20.

But the Titans were up to the challenge in the fourth set, taking a 13-9 lead and holding on for the 25-20 win to force a fifth set.

Leyre Arroyo Sanchez finished with 14 kills while Cox finished with 11 and Gaye had 10 in the loss.

Sara Gamboa led FSW with 18 kills while Milicevic had 17.

It is the first time in series history that EFSC has pushed Florida Southwestern to five sets.

Eastern Florida State College will travel to Polk State College on Wednesday for a conference game beginning at 6 p.m. They will be back home next Saturday afternoon against No. 2 ranked Miami Dade College.