The Santa Fe Saints faced a daunting task as they faced the #18 Eastern Florida State College Titans in the second leg of a back-to-back. The Saints fell to the St. John's River State College Vikings 3-1 Tuesday night as starting Middle Blocker Tamin Trott went down early in the match. The Titans are coming off a 1-3 home loss to the #17 Daytona State Falcons on Saturday.

Despite a valiant effort early on, the Saints lost in straight sets 21-25, 17-25, and 10-25.

The first set started as a back and forth, but the Titans went on a run to take an 11-7 lead, forcing a Saints timeout. Following the timeout, the Saints won the next 3 points to cut the deficit to 10-11. A block by Larissa Seger-Griebeler tied the set at 12-12. Soraya Nacero got a kill to tie the set again at 14-14, prompting a timeout by the Titans. The Saints took their first lead at 15-14 following the timeout. Sophia Knowles for the Titans got a kill to take a 17-16 lead, and the Titans extended the lead to 21-18, forcing the Saints to use their second and final timeout of the set. The Saints won the point following the timeout, but the Titans would go on a run to take a 24-19 lead. The Saints won the next 2 set points, but the Titans held on 25-21.

Service errors by both teams led to a 3-3 start in the second set, and the Saints took their first lead at 4-3 thanks to a Blanco kill. The set would remain close at a 9-9 tie, but the Saints would call a timeout after falling behind 10-14. The Saints used their final timeout as the Titans extended their lead to 19-12. The Titans held on to win 25-17.

The Saints called a timeout after the Titans jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the third set. The Saints used their final timeout after going down 6-18 and the Vikings cruised to a 25-10 win.

The loss is the Saints' third in a row as they fall to 5-11 and 1-5 in the conference. The schedule does not get any easier as the Saints host the #17 Daytona State Falcons at 2:00 PM on Saturday. The 13-6 Falcons are coming off a sweep against the Indian River State College Pioneers to extend their winning streak to 3 games.

Article by: Bryan Denton