Box Score MIAMI SHORES - Florida Southern Volleyball opened up the second half of Sunshine State Conference play here Friday evening by posting a four-set victory over Barry (25-16, 15-25, 25-20, 25-19) at the Health and Wellness Center on the Barry campus.
With the win, the Moccasins improve to 16-9 overall and 6-3 in the SSC, while Barry falls to 11-11 overall and 3-6 in the league standings.
In Friday's win, the Mocs rode a strong defense that recorded a season high 13 blocks and outdug the Buccaneers, 62-57 in posting its second win of the season over Barry. Along with outblocking and outdigging the Bucs, the Mocs also forced BU into 28 attack errors and held them to a .151 hitting percentage for the match.
The Mocs strong defense was needed on a night when its offense was held to 44 kills and had just three players record seven or more kills.
Leading the charge for the Mocs in Friday's match was freshman middle blocker Kayshia Brady (Crescent City, Fla.). Brady finished with 10 kills and added a career-high eight blocks, including five solo blocks in the win. In addition to Brady, sophomore right side hitter Gabby Fernandez (Tampa, Fla.) had nine kills and added four blocks, while junior setter Ali Skayhan (Beaverton, Ore.) had seven kills, four assisted blocks, 14 digs and 32 assists for her team-leading 18th double-double on the season.
In the first set, FSC's offense was in high gear as they hit .414 and had 13 of its 44 kills in the set. After Barry tied the set at 8 on a kill by Tania Torres, the Mocs used an 8-2 run to push out to a 16-10 lead. The Mocs, who hit .414 in the set, lead would grow to 22-14, before Barry pulled within 24-16. That would be as close as the Bucs would get as FSC closed the set with a kill by Skayhan to seal the 25-16 win.
The Bucs jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the second set, before the Mocs used an 8-5 run to pull within 11-10. BU, though, would respond with a quick 5-1 spurt to extend its lead to 16-11. FSC would get within 18-13, before the Bucs closed the set on a 7-2 run to post a 25-15 win and tie the set at 1-all.
BU got off to a strong start in the third set as they led 4-1 early and held an 11-8 lead when the Mocs used a 10-4 scoring run to a turn a three-point deficit into an 18-15 lead. The run was highlighted by three kills from Brady. The Bucs, though, pulled within 22-19 following a kill from Mima Hajdukovic, but the Mocs ended the set by scoring three of the final four points to post a 25-20 win and take a 2-1 lead in the match. In the third set, FSC hit .229 and limited the Bucs to a .111 hitting percentage.
In the fourth set, the Bucs jumped out to an 8-3 lead. The lead, though, was shortlived as the Mocs responded with 12-3 run to take a 15-11 lead. The run was aided by seven errors from the Bucs. Following the Mocs run, Barry answered with a 4-2 run todrop FSC's lead to 17-15, but that would be as close as they would get as the Mocs closed the set outscoring BU, 8-4 to post the 25-19 win and seal the victory.
Barry was paced by 13 kills and five blocks from Torres. In addition to Torres, Ashley Carrero added eight kills and 15 digs, while Laine Cielena chipped in with eight kills in the loss.
FSC's defense was paced by 19 digs from freshman libero Arielle Fernandez (Pacifica, Calif.), while senior outside hitter Anne Pietkiewicz (Winter Park, Fla.) added 14 digs in the win.
The Mocs will continue its South Florida road swing with a 4 p.m. match on Saturday against Lynn. The Lynn match will be played at St. Andrew's School in Boca Raton.
