Box Score The battle for first place in the Sunshine State Conference Friday night went to No. 6 Tampa. The No. 8 Moccasins won the first set 25-22, but Tampa came back to claim the next three, 25-19, 29-27, 25-22, to take over sole possession of first place.
The win gave Tampa a 9-1 SSC record, 20-2 overall, while the Moccasins slipped to 8-2 in the SSC, 21-5 overall, and had their nine-match winning streak halted.
Leading 9-8 in the first set, the Moccasins added a point to make it 10-8 and led the rest of the set. Tampa broke a 4-4 tie early in the second set with two straight points to go up 6-4, then with the score at 8-6, the Spartans pulled away with five straight points and the Moccasins could get no closer than six points the rest of the set.
In the third set, FSC rallied from an early 6-1 deficit to take a 17-15 lead. Tampa came back, however, and with the score tied at 27-27, the Spartans scored the final two points to claim the set. In the fourth set, the Moccasins had an 19-15 lead, but Tampa scored five straight points to re-gain the lead. With the scored tied at 21-21, the Spartans outscored the Mocs 4-1 to close out the match.
Julia Borecka led FSC with a season-high 15 kills, while Anna Greenwood and Danielle Higginbotham each added 10 kills. Danielle Durham led the defensive effort with 16 digs and Courtney Johnson picked up 14. Durham's 16 digs enabled her to move into third place ahead of Daryl BÃby on FSC's career digs list with 1,646.
The Moccasins play a non-conference match Saturday at 7 p.m. against Dowling (N.Y.), which is 25-4, at Jenkins Field House.
