ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Newberry Wolves hung tight with 22nd-ranked Eckerd College in Friday's nightcap of the EC Classic, but the host Tritons pulled out a 28-26, 25-21, 25-19 sweep of the Wolves in the MacArthur Center.

Newberry (5-2) returns to action at 10 a.m. Saturday against a surging 7-1 Minnesota State-Moorhead squad and closes the Eckerd Classic with a 3 p.m. match against Rollins.

Middle blocker Madison Schultz (Bellmont, Ind.) returned to the lineup and hit .556, connecting on five kills with no errors on nine attempts. Samantha Parrish (Angola, Ind.) led the Wolves with 13 kills and had nine digs to fall just short of a double-double.

Blair Browning (New Lexington, Ohio) handed out 17 assists and Rachel Moran (Cypress, Texas) dished out 10, while Elayni Stokes (Houston, Texas) had a team-high 13 digs. Lauren Prachar (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Amanda Soper (Simi Valley, Calif.) each had six kills, while Jessica King (Los Angeles, Calif.) joined Schultz in the middle with five kills.

The Wolves put a scare in the nationally-ranked Tritons in the first set, clawing back after the hosts had taken a 20-16 lead with four consecutive points to tie the set at 20-all. Neither team could pull away to the required two-point advantage to end the set until EC's Lindsay Biggs earned a kill and an ace to close it out at 28-26. Parrish had five kills in the set as the Wolves out-hit Eckerd .237 to .119, but the Tritons had three aces in the set to Newberry's one, including the set-clinching point.

In the second set, Eckerd found its offensive groove, hitting .405 in the set with Ali McAlvany earning nine kills on 14 swings without an error. Newberry hit .206 with three aces, with Parrish smashing four kills and Prachar putting away three points, but McAlvany's offensive assault allowed the Tritons to come back from as many as six points down early in the set.

A 7-0 run late in the third and final set allowed Eckerd to close out the match in sweeping fashion. Newberry was within a 16-14 margin before the error bug bit the Wolves to help the Tritons out. Newberry hit only .086 in the set compared to Eckerd's .353. McAlvany had another flawless set with five kills on nine swings without an error, while Ana de Olano put down six kills. Parrish had four kills in the set and King, Prachar and Soper had a pair each.