Women's volleyball team falls short against Hillsborough

The Eastern Florida State College women's volleyball team lost a tight Suncoast Conference match against No. 14 Hillsborough Community College in four sets.

The Titans battled point for point with the Hawks throughout the match, falling 25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 25-23 Tuesday night in Tampa.

The first set saw Hillsborough take a 7-3 lead, but the Titans came back to tie 8-8 and took the lead on a Desiree Cruz block and a Fabiola Rivera kill. From there it was tied 16-16 when Hillsborough went on a run, scoring five of the final six points to take an early advantage.

The second set once again saw Hillsborough take an early lead, but Rivera came up big with a couple of aces and gave the Titans a 7-5 advantage that they would hold until a 4-0 run by the Hawks gave them a 22-21 lead. But this time the Titans would make the key plays to tie the match 1-1.

Hillsborough stormed out to a 14-7 lead in the third set and looked to be taking over the match but a timeout led to a 3-0 run as the Titans would come all the way back to be down one, 17-16. A close call cost the Titans a key point and Hillsborough took advantage, building a 21-17 lead but the Titans came back once again, tying the match 23-23 on some strong serving from Cruz. But Hillsborough would score the final two points to hold on for the 25-23 win.

The fourth set saw the Titans take an early 13-9 lead as Rylie Patrick and Rivera each had kills early to extend the lead. But the Hawks would not be denied on Tuesday, coming back to tie the fourth set 13-13. It would remain close the entire fourth set with the Hawks once again claiming the 25-23 win.

Giselle Giraud led the Titans attack with 17 kills while Patrick had 10 kills and eight digs in the match. Cruz finished with seven kills and Rivera had eight kills to go with four aces. Yuleidy Torres had 10 digs in the match.

Eastern Florida State College, who is 1-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference, will host Polk State College Thursday night at Titan Field House. The match will begin at 6 p.m. and admission is free.