Taylor Cruises to a Pair of Victories to Close Out Palm Beach Juniors Classic

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Two victories on Saturday led by a combined .364 hitting percentage between the matches against Florida National and Florida College pushed the Trojans to 4-0 this year.

Taylor cruised to a sweep of Florida National (0-3) to begin the day. TU hit an impressive .450 in the match, with 45 kills to eight errors and nine service aces.

The Trojans jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the opener to set the tone. McKaylah Flagle delivered three of her five service aces in the stretch and Daya Vestal notched the first two of eight kills throughout the match.

The second set saw Taylor (4-0) create another early lead as Vestal and Shaye Watson hammered home five kills in the first eight points. The Conquistadors got within four at 10-14 but The sophomore duo of Vestal and Watson combined for 11 kills in the set to push Taylor to a 25-14 win.

The third and final set was all knotted at eight before Taylor pulled away and won convincingly at 25-13. Mackenzie Rogers got her first taste of college volleyball and excelled with six kills in eight attempts playing the final two sets.

TU continued its impressive play with victory over Florida College in four sets to complete play at the Palm Beach Juniors Classic undefeated.

A decisive first set went in favor of the Trojans at 25-13, as Suzanne Story had three consecutive service aces and setters Lindsay Springer and Margo Hernandez sprayed the ball around efficiently.

The second set saw more resistance as an early TU was erased with a 5-1 run by the Falcons to put the Trojans behind for the first time in the match. A trio of points gave Taylor the lead and the teams traded points most of the way until a 4-1 run to close the set gave the Trojans the win.

An early 6-0 run by Florida College (1-3) put Taylor in its biggest hole of the day at 8-2, but an immediate response sparked by a pair of kills by Ellie Frey flipped the score to 13-10 in favor of the Trojans. The set of runs continue with the squads trading them and fittingly a 7-3 run finished the set for the Falcons.

The Trojans slowly built a lead and ran away with the set and match as Frey collected four of her 17 kills in the final set. The Trojans continued their strong net presence, recording 11 blocks led by Alexa Mader with six.

The Trojans have a week off before playing in the Big Sky Challenge beginning on Friday, August 22 with a match against Evergreen (0-0) at 4:00 pm.