SAINT LEO, Fla. – The Saint Leo women's volleyball team lost 3-0 in its Sunshine State Conference (SSC) opener on Wednesday night at home versus Eckerd in the Marion Bowman Activities Center.

In the opening set, the Tritons held a 12-9 edge before executing a 6-1 run to extend their advantage to 18-10. While the Green and Gold trimmed its deficit to 23-16 after a service error from Eckerd, a pair of attack errors from the Lions gave the Tritons the 25-16 win in the first set.

Eckerd jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the second set, however, Saint Leo answered with a four consecutive points as senior Oliwia Durka ignited the run for the Lions with a kill, 17-10. The Tritons claimed a 21-11 lead before a kill from freshman Madison Moore started a 5-0 run as Saint Leo cut the Eckerd advantage to 21-16. The Triton grasped control of the set with a kill and an attack error from the Lions that made it set point, 24-17, before a kill gave Eckerd the set.

After the Tritons collected a 10-5 cushion, Saint Leo scored three of the next four points to make the score 11-8 following a kill from junior Anyaliz Rodriguez. Eckerd extended its lead to 21-11 after a 10-3 run that was countered by four straight points from the Green and Gold, 21-15. Eckerd captured the final set by scoring the last four points in a row, 25-15.

 Durka led the Lions' offense with eight kills in addition to tallying eight digs. Junior Brielle Kallberg and Rodriguez each registered four kills while Kallberg also recorded a pair of assisted blocks. Moore and junior Paula Perez Rosales notched a trio of kills. Junior Tajma Muharemovic dished out 15 assists and posted six digs. Senior Ivett Flores led Saint Leo with 11 digs.

The Lions return to the court on Friday, October 4 as they host Barry in an SSC bout at 7 p.m.