Box Score MELBOURNE - Florida Southern Volleyball dropped the first two sets of its match here Saturday afternoon with Florida Tech, before rallying to force a fifth set, but the rally fell short as the Panthers hung on for a five-set (25-22, 25-23, 19-25, 15-25, 15-13) Sunshine State Conference victory over the Moccasins at the Clemente Center.
The loss to the Panthers snapped the Mocs two-match winning streak and it was just the second setback in the last 13 matches for FSC as they suffered a three-set defeat last Friday at then seventh-ranked Tampa prior to Saturday's defeat.
With the loss, the Mocs fell to 12-6 overall and 4-2 in the SSC, while FIT improved to 12-5 overall and 3-3 in the SSC.
Saturday's match was the Mocs second of three consecutive this weekend as they will host Lincoln Memorial on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Jenkins Field House. The Mocs opened the weekend with a three-set win Friday at Rollins.
After losing the first two sets to the Panthers, the Mocs offense woke up as they used a .379 hitting percentage and 14 kills to post a 25-19 win in the third set, before recording 15 kills and hitting .483 en route to posting a 25-15 win in the fourth set. Meanwhile, the Panthers recorded just 21 kills and hit a combined .164 in the third and fourth sets.
In the fifth and deciding set, the Mocs led 10-7, before the Panthers used a 7-2 run to take a 14-12 lead following a kill by Caitlyn Ballweber. The Mocs, though, answered with a kill from sophomore right side hitter Gabby Fernandez (Tampa, Fla.) to pull within 14-13, but FIT would close out the match with another kill from Ballweber to seal the victory. In the fifth set, both teams each recorded nine kills and hit a combined .333 as the Mocs hit .300 and the Panthers hit .368.
"Florida Tech was really good offensively today and played a great match," Mocs coach Jill Stephens said following the match. "We attacked well, but didn't finish the first two sets and that was the difference."
For the match, the Mocs hit .329 and recorded a season-high 65 kills and also recorded a season-high 12 blocks, including a career-high seven blocks by junior setter Ali Skayhan (Beaverton, Ore.). Along with her seven blocks, Skayhan missed a second career triple-double by one kill as she recorded nine in the match and added 49 assists for her team-leading 12th double-double of the season.
The Mocs .329 hitting percentage was its second highest of the season as they hit .407 in its 3-0 win over Assumption at Courtyard by Marriott/Lynn Invitational earlier this season. FIT finished with a .237 hitting percentage and had 60 kills.
Fernandez led the way offensively for the Mocs as she recorded 15 kills, including five in the second set and added three service aces and hit a season-best .481, while sophomore outside hitter Kate Stromberg (Lexington, Ky.) had 14 kills and 10 digs for her eighth double-double of the season and senior Anne Pietkiewicz (Winter Park, Fla.) contributed 12 kills and 11 digs for her seven double-double this season.
In addition to Skayhan's seven blocks, junior middle blocker Dominique Hale (Kingman, Ariz.) recorded a career-high five blocks, while freshman middle blocker Kayshia Brady (Crescent City, Fla.) had four blocks in the loss. Hale and Brady also combined to record 14 kills in the match as Brady had eight on nine attacks and hit a career-best .889, while Hale slammed home six.
Despite losing the first two sets, the Mocs held leads in both of them as the first set featured six ties and two lead changes, while the second set had five ties and one lead change.
In the third set, the Panthers jumped out to a 7-2 lead and led 10-7 when the Mocs used a 9-3 scoring run keyed by three Pietkiewicz kills to take a 16-13 lead. The Panthers would pull within 19-18, before the Mocs closed the set by scoring six of the final seven points, including ending the set with an ace by Stromberg, to post a 25-19 win.
Unlike the third set, the Mocs jumped out to a 9-3 lead and never looked back as they cruised to a 25-15 win to tie the match and force a fifth and deciding set. The closest the Panthers got in the set was 10-6 following an ace by Kim Juriga.
Ballweber led the way for the Panthers as she recorded a match-high 18 kills, including recording nine of those kills in the final two sets and hit .351. Juriga added 15 kills and 13 digs and also hit .351 in the win, while Angie Lassman recorded a match-high 20 digs. For the match, FIT outdug the Mocs, 68-66.
