Box Score Florida Southern and Saint Leo have played each other in volleyball since 1976 and the results always has been the same, a Moccasin victory - until Wednesday night.
Saint Leo won a dramatic five-set match, 25-19, 21-25, 25-18, 22-25, 24-22, for its first-ever volleyball win over the Moccasins in 61 matches.
The loss was costly for the Moccasins, as it dropped them out of a share of first place in the Sunshine State Conference with Tampa. The Spartans (25-4, 12-3 SSC) reclaimed sole possession of first place with a three-set win over Eckerd. The loss dropped the Mocs to 24-8, 11-4 SSC with one match remaining for both teams.
FSC won't know until Sunday night if the loss will cost them their top spot in the region. The latest NCAA South Region rankings had moved FSC to the number one spot, but that was prior to Wednesday night's match. The NCAA announces its Division II tournament pairings and host sites Sunday night at 10 p.m.
After trading victories with the Lions through the first four sets, the Moccasins found themselves trailing 9-4 in the deciding fifth set. A Courtney Johnson service ace tied the set at 12-12. From that point, neither team led by more than a point until Saint Leo scored the final three points to earn the mandatory two-point victory at 24-22. Danielle Durham's 23rd kill of the match had put FSC ahead 22-21, but Saint Leo answered with successive kills by Danielle Bletso before Michelle Nogueras ended the match with a kill.
Durham's career-high 23 kills moved her into seventh place on FSC's career kills list with 1,303. She also had 16 digs to register her 14th double-double of the season and the 49th of her career. Julia Borecka notched a season-high 22 kills and hit .474 for the match and Elise Burke posted a career-high 72 assists in the setback.
