Palm Beach Atlantic Outlasts Cedarville In NCCAA Pool Play
ST. PAUL, Minn. (Nov. 29, 2007) –- In a battle of last year’s championship match teams, Palm Beach Atlantic University (Fla.) returned the favor on Thursday afternoon, defeating 2006 champion Cedarville University in pool play at the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) National Tournament. Both teams alternated games, but it was the Sailfish who won the decisive fifth game to win 3-2 (30-17, 29-31, 30-14, 28-30, 15-12).

Playing a mere seven members of their team throughout the entire match, Palm Beach Atlantic was led by junior Brittany Erickson, who amassed 20 kills in the five-game set. Ali Mitchell and Bia Santos each added 10 kills in the win, as the Sailfish added 12 blocks to overcome the Yellow Jackets.

PBA used a .323 attacking percentage from the first game to throttle their way though the rest of the match, ending up with a .150 rate in the end. Cedarville actually tallied one more kill than the Sailfish at 58-57, but the Jackets’ attacking rate didn’t cut it, as they hit a mere .059.

Last year’s tournament MVP Sarah Zeltman led Cedarville with 20 kills, while Justine Christiansen added 10. Katie Moon had 46 assists in the loss.

Emily Ryerson paced Palm Beach Atlantic’s offense with 38 assists while also leading the team in blocks with six. Santos had a team-high 24 digs.

Both teams will regroup and come back for an eventful Friday, as each squad in Pool B is scheduled for two matches to even out with Pool A, whose teams played two contests on Thursday.

Palm Beach Atlantic will square off against The Master’s College (Calif.) at 2:30 p.m. before facing Bethel College (Ind.) at 6 p.m. Cedarville is scheduled to take on Bethel at 12 Noon, followed by a match with Master’s at 6 p.m.