GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Santa Fe College Volleyball earned their first Suncoast Conference victory of the season by a 3-1 margin against State College of Florida, 22-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-21.

After a bit of a slow start against the Manatees, the Saints picked it up on their home floor to improve to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in Suncoast Conference action.

Set 1 – SCF 25, SF 22

The set was neck-and-neck throughout, but the Manatees gained some separation late with a 6-0 run to go ahead 22-17 before eventually jumping ahead 1-0.

Set 2 – SF 25, SCF 21

Santa Fe trailed 14-8 in Set 2 and appeared as if it may fall behind into a 2-0 hole. SF, however, slowly began to chip away into SCF's advantage, and were eventually able to draw even at 19-19.

After a Manatees' point, the Saints rattled off four unanswered points of their own to go ahead 23-20. The run included a remarkable, improbable diving dig from Emily Loose that turned into a kill on the other side of the net after landing on the left sideline.

Set 2 was sealed with back-to-back kills from Abbey James.

Set 3 – SF 25, SCF 21

The first five points of the set went to the Manatees, but once again, SF was able to erase the deficit.

Trailing 16-11, SF started an 8-2 run to seize their first lead of the set, 19-18, on a kill from Katelyn Crofts.

The set was tied on two more occasions down the stretch, but the Saints executed in the clutch moments and earned the final point on a kill from Nicole DePaula.

Set 4 – SF 25, SCF 22

With the score 7-6 in favor of the Saints, the hosts went on a 5-0 run, which was then countered by the Manatees with five unanswered of their own.

The Saints responded, however, with yet another 5-0 stretch of play, capped off by an ace from Crofts to bring the score to 17-12.

The lead swelled to as large as six, 19-13, but SCF didn't go down easily. The Saints led by just one point, 23-22, before securing the victory on a Katelyn Kelso ace.

Key Saints' Statistics

James paced the SF attack with nine kills on 18 swings for a .278 hitting percentage.

Emily Register and Crofts from the middle were effective on their way to seven kills.

Defensively as a team, the Saints compiled 72 digs and ten blocks to limit the Manatees' attack.

Four different Saints were in double-figures for digs. Maya Mullally had 13, Amelia MacCallum 11, while Kassidy Bolling and Nicole DePaula recorded ten apiece.

The Cheronis Perspective

Head Coach Nick Cheronis: "I thought our middles were very good tonight. Our serve receive passing is slowly improving and that is giving us an opportunity to kill balls out of the middle.

It was a gritty win, but now we have a very good Hillsborough team coming on Thursday."

Up Next

Santa Fe (2-2, 1-1 Suncoast) hosts No. 17 Hillsborough Community College on Thursday, ­­Sept. 2 at 6:00 p.m. It will be the first game of the 2021 season for the Hawks.