Volleyball Knocks Off Top-20 Ranked Lake-Sumter in 5 Sets

Panthers improve to 4-1 in conference play as they take down a nationlly ranked opponent in Lake-Sumter State College in 5 sets on Sunday morning.

After losing the first set, Palm Beach fought hard in set 2, ultimately falling 21-25. The momentum shifted in set 3 as the Panthers completely dominated Lake-Sumter, ultimately prevailing 25-12. With newfound confidence from their win in set 3, Palm Beach never looked back taking sets 4 and 5 en route to victory.

The 5th and deciding set was highly contested. The teams traded points to a 7-7 score, neither team pulling ahead by more than 1 point. Lake-Sumter then proceeded to pull ahead 12-9 after a series of close calls went in their favor. The momentum swung back in PBSC's direction after multiple hits went out of bounds for the home Lakehawks. From there, Dena Otte put on quite a display as she racked up three kills with the game in the balance which included tying the game at 13-13, 14-14, and finally the match-winner -- a brilliantly placed ball in the center of the court beyond two outstretched defenders. We'd be remiss if we didn't include the devastating block by Angelina Botolino that put the Panthers up 15-14.

Stat leaders include Hailey Hart and Dena Otte who finished with 14 & 12 kills, respectively. Angelina Botolino led the team up front with 5 blocks. Lola Vidamour finished with 18 DIGS, outpacing Darlenis Medina who had 17. Natalie Faulkner led the team in assists with 25 and was followed by Kyla Coffey, who saw extended playing time. Coffey finished with 14 assists.

The Panthers travel back to Palm Beach for a series of home matches beginning on Friday with a 6 pm matchup against St. Petersburg College.

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