WINTER HAVEN -- Polk State College Volleyball showed grit on Tuesday night as it followed a tough, injury-filled weekend in suburban Las Vegas with a gritty 3-2 win over No. 10 Hillsborough Community College.

"The love and the care these girls put into each other, and this program is unmatched," Polk State Head Coach German De Valle said. "So many girls had to play in different positions than normal tonight and they all were selfless and stepped up."

The Eagles' freshman duo of middle blocker Alanae Margaritha and outside hitter Crismeyli Rodrigues each set new career-highs in kills during the match. Margaritha totaled 13 while Rodrigues led the team with 17 kills.

Despite hitting a match-best .417, the Eagles (5-5, 1-1 Suncoast Conference) dropped the opening set to the Hawks 25-21. Polk then retaliated in the second set, jumping out to an early 10-5 lead before growing the advantage to 18-12. The Eagles closed out set No. 2 with a 25-16 win to even the match.

Polk could not overcome a tough start to the third set; it trailed the Hawks 13-4 early on before ultimately dropping the session 25-19.

Down 2-1, the Eagles mounted the comeback with a 25-19 handling of their own in set No. 4 to force a fifth.

In the final session, Polk opened things up on a 5-0 run to force an Hillsborough timeout. The Hawks attempted to mount a late rally with a 5-1 run in the set. However, a kill by sophomore middle Kaila Ru won the set for the Eagles 15-10 and clinched the match 3-2.

"We just kept sticking together no matter what happened," Ru said. "All of our injured players were right there on the bench, still showing up for us and picking us up when we needed it. That was the key."

Ru totaled 11 kills on the night, hit .364, and led the team with three solo blocks. Freshman Carolina Guerreiro was second on the team in kills with 16 to go along with 19 digs.

Freshman setter Madison O'Sullivan continued to lock down the position for Polk, totaling a career-high 50 assists.

With the win, the Eagles evened their season record and picked up their first Suncoast Conference victory. They now head to Gainesville to take on Santa Fe College this Thursday at 6 p.m.