The Moccasins and Tampa each had a chance to claim sole possession of first place in the Sunshine State Conference, but because both teams lost five-set road matches Saturday, they remain tied for the top spot.
The 10th-ranked Moccasins fell at Florida Tech 20-25, 15-25, 25-22, 30-28, 15-17 and fifth-ranked Tampa lost in five sets at Nova Southeastern. Tampa had lost Friday night at Barry to enable the Moccasins to regain a share of the SSC lead.
FSC and Tampa now are 9-3 in the SSC, while Nova Southeastern is 8-3.
After dropping the first two sets at Florida Tech, the Moccasins battled back to win sets three and four. In the third set, FSC scored three straight points to break a 19-19 tie and went on to win 25-22. In the fourth set, the Moccasins were up 19-14, but Florida Tech was able to tie the set at 24-24. The two teams traded points until the Moccasins snapped a 28-28 tie with two straight points to force the deciding fifth set.
In the fifth set, the Mocs led 10-7, but the Panthers tied it at 10-10 and the teams exchanged points until Florida Tech scored twice to break a 15-15 tie and win the match.
Danielle Durham recorded a team-high 19 kills for the Mocs and was one of five FSC players in double figures in kills. Maggie Drumm and Anna Greenwood each had 15 kills. For Drumm, who hit .538 for the match, the 15 kills were her career high. Danielle Higginbotham and Julia Borecka each added 10 kills.
Courtney Johnson notched a career-high 24 digs and Greenwood picked up 12 to register a double-double and Elise Burke delivered 66 assists to go with 11 digs.
The Mocs matched their season highs with 71 kills and 75 digs in the match, but also tallied 19 service errors to only three aces.
The Moccasins (22-7) are idle until Friday, when they meet Nova Southeastern at 7 p.m. at Jenkins Field House.
