A stretch of five matches in seven days awaits Eastern Florida’s volleyball team beginning with Wednesday evening’s visit to undefeated St. Johns River State College. (EFSC Image)
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE,FLORIDA – A stretch of five matches in seven days awaits Eastern Florida’s volleyball team beginning with Wednesday evening’s visit to undefeated St. Johns River State College.
St. Johns River (4-0) hosts the Titans at 6 p.m. in Palatka. The Titans then travel to Santa Fe College in Gainesville for matches on Friday and Saturday.
Friday finds Eastern Florida playing nationally 10th-ranked and state second-ranked State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota at 5 p.m. On Saturday the Titans play nationally 17th-ranked and state fourth-ranked host school Santa Fe at 9 a.m. and Gulf Coast State College at 2 p.m.
Head coach Andrea Rasmussen’s charges then catch their breath before opening their home season by hosting state sixth-ranked Daytona State College at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Titan Field House on the Melbourne Campus.
Eastern Florida is 1-1 after splitting its opening-day matches on Saturday, losing 3-1 to Florida State College Jacksonville and beating host Lake-Sumter State College 3-1.
Andrea Rasmussen
“The schedule only increases in difficulty the further we get into it,” Rasmussen said. ‘Playing an unbeaten St. Johns team, two nationally and state ranked teams in State College of Florida and Santa Fe, always tough. Gulf Coast and state-ranked Daytona State will give our players a real good assessment of where we stand.
“We’ve had a challenging pre-season that gave our six freshmen a really good idea of what’s expected at this level. They responded in our opening matches and will really have to step up along with our sophomores if we are to get some results over the next seven days.”
Statistically for Eastern Florida, sophomore transfer Mariana Dal Pozzo leads in kills with 24 and is second to freshman Megan Graefe’s 30 digs with 26. Sophomore Treasure Ingram is second in kills with 21.
Freshman Keisha Machado leads in assists with 43. Classmate Myrlena Pagan Luna is second with 24. Sophomore Lena Kaelberer leads in blocks with 11.
