Box Score The Moccasins made Tampa work to maintain its No. 1 ranking and unbeaten streak, taking the Spartans to four sets, but the Spartans prevailed, 25-19, 25-17, 20-25, 25-20, in their Sunshine State Conference match at Jenkins Field House Wednesday night.
The win was Tampa's 24th straight without a loss this season and improved their SSC mark to 11-0. The Moccasins slipped to 13-11, 7-5 in the SSC. In the season's first NCAA regional rankings announced Wednesday, Tampa was first and the Moccasins were seventh. The top eight teams are selected for the NCAA South Regional.
After the Moccasins won the third set to trim Tampa's lead to two sets to one, perhaps the key point in the match came midway through the fourth set. The Mocs had led by as many as three points early in the set, but with FSC ahead 12-10 Tampa reeled off six unanswered points to go up 16-12 and the Moccasins weren't able to get closer than two points the rest of the set.
Anne Pietkiewicz led the Mocs with a 14-kill, 14-dig performance, producing her 19th career double-double. Gabby Fernandez added 12 kills and Ali Skayhan delivered a career-high 22 digs.
Tampa came into the match with a .327 team hitting percentage, but the Mocs held them to .258. The Spartans' Danielle Selkridge had the nation's top individual hitting percentage at .540 and the Moccasins held her to .308, but she did have 11 kills.
Jessica Yingling led the Spartans with 15 kills and Eva Dupay added 10. The Spartans dominated at the net, however, with a 14-4 advantage in team blocks.
The Mocs play their final non-conference match Sunday at 2 p.m. against Flagler at Jenkins Field House. It will be Senior Day, as the Mocs recognize seniors Erin Callahan, Diana Castrillon, Lauren Huber, Anna Niebuhr, Elena Sorich, Kendall Wilde and Katie Wilkerson.
