GAINESVILLE — The first half of Citrus Conference play is in the books for Polk State Volleyball. After winning in Gainesville to clinch an FCSAA Tournament spot last season, the Eagles were unable to pick up a second straight win at Santa Fe College, falling 3-0 on Wednesday night.

The Eagles fell by set scores of 25-20, 25-13, and 25-14. Polk State (0-16, 0-5 Citrus Conference), however, started strong in each of the first two sets.

Trailing 5-4 in the first set, Polk State used a mini 3-0 run with kills from Dublin Fitzgerald and Camila Freitag to take the lead. The Saints answered with an 8-2 run but Polk State refused to go quietly.

After getting to within one multiple times, the Eagles drew even at 19 on a Fitzgerald kill. Santa Fe scored the next three points to go ahead for good and closed the set on a 6-1 run.

Polk State raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set. Fitzgerald had an early kill. Alicia Maris combined with both Fitzgerald and Freitag for blocks at the net. 

From there, it was all Santa Fe. The Saints responded with a 9-2 to go ahead for good in the second. The Eagles never led in the third set as Santa Fe raced to a 5-0 lead and never looked back.

After rare back-to-back contests against unranked teams, the Eagles will return home to take on No. 3 Florida SouthWestern State College on Saturday. The match is scheduled for 2 p.m.

This post will be updated.