Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern sent its two seniors out in style here Saturday afternoon as they earned a hard-fought four-set Senior Night victory over Rollins College (25-22, 25-22, 20-25, 25-22) in Sunshine State Conference action at Jenkins Field House.
Prior to Saturday's match, the Moccasins honored its two seniors, outside hitter Anne Pietkiewicz (Winter Park, Fla.) and middle blocker Morgan Kosterlitz (Dunedin, Fla.) in a prematch ceremony. Those two seniors have both played here for four seasons and have led the Mocs to a 72-51 overall record and two consecutive NCAA Division II South Regional Tournament berths.
"It feels good to send our seniors off with a win on Senior Night," Mocs head coach Jill Stephens said.
With Saturday's win, the Mocs, who are ranked sixth in the latest NCAA D-II South Regional rankings, improved to 19-11 overall and 9-5 in the SSC, while Rollins fell to 16-14 overall and 7-7 in the league.
Pietkiewicz helped the Mocs to the victory as she and junior middle blocker Dominique Hale (Kingman, Ariz.) combined to record 12 kills each. Pietkiewicz recorded 12 kills, seven digs and two blocks, while Hale had 12 kills and four blocks and hit .391. Kosterlitz, who saw her first action since suffering an injury in practice the week of the Tampa match on Sept. 28, finished with one kill, one assist and one assisted block.
Freshman setter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) finished with nine kills and hit .400, while sophomore right side hitter Gabby Fernandez (Tampa, Fla.) added eight kills, six digs and three blocks in the win. Sophomore libero Jasmine Childress (Muncie, Ind.) chipped in with a team-leading 17 digs.
The key to Saturday's victory was timely defense and strong serving as the Mocs finished with an 8-1 edge in service aces. For the match, Rollins outhit the Mocs, .275 to .271 and recorded one more kill (56-55) and outdug the Mocs, 61-48, but the Tars committed 20 attack errors, including 13 in the first two sets in losing for the second time this year to the Mocs. FSC picked up a three-set victory over the Tars in Winter Park on Oct. 5.
"Our word for today was tenacious and I thought that's what we were today as a team," said Stephens following the nearly two-hour match. "I thought we served and passed well and were efficient at times offensively."
Saturday's match was a back-and-forth affair as it featured 37 ties and 14 lead changes, including 25 ties and nine lead changes in the first two sets combined.
In the first set, neither team could gain much of an advantage until the Mocs closed the set on a 5-1 run to turn a 21-20 deficit into a 25-22 win. FSC tied the set at 22 on a service error by the Tars, before back-to-back kills from Pietkiewicz and Kosterlitz gave the Mocs a 24-22 advantage. Junior setter Ali Skayhan (Beaverton, Ore.) sealed the win with a service ace. The first set had 17 ties and four lead changes.
Skayhan finished with 42 assists and 11 digs for her team-leading 22nd double-double and she also hit .312 for the match.
Rollins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second set and led 13-10 when the Mocs used an 8-4 run to take an 18-17 lead following a kill by Pietkiewicz. After Rollins tied the set on the next play, the Mocs responsed with a 5-2 run to take a 24-19 lead. The Tars would score three straight points to pull within 24-22, but Marotti and Brady sealed with win by assisting on a block to give the Mocs a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third belonged to the Tars as they hit .429 and had 14 kills, while holding the Mocs to a .231 hitting percentage and limiting them to 11 kills. In the set, Rollins jumped out to an 11-5 lead and led 18-12 when the Mocs used a 5-3 run to pull within 21-17 following an ace by Skayhan, who finished with five in the match. The Tars, though, would close the set by scoring four of the final seven points to post the 25-20 win.
In the fourth set, neither team was able to gain much of a lead until the Tars used a 7-4 scoring run to turn an 8-all tie into a 15-12 lead. The lead was shortlived as the Mocs scored four straight points, three of which came as a result of Rollins errors, to take a 16-15 lead. After the set was tied again at 17, the Mocs scored three straight points to take a 20-17 lead. After the Tars pulled within 20-18, the Mocs closed the set and the match by scoring five of the final nine points, including sealing the win on a ball handling error by Rollins' setter MaryEllen Pole.
Rollins was paced by Megan Hodges, who finished with a game-high 18 kills, while Camille Indest added 11 kills in the loss. On defense, Christina Carracino recorded a match-high 24 digs and Jessica Wilson added five blocks.
The Mocs will close out its home schedule with a 7 p.m. SSC match on Tuesday, Nov. 13 against Saint Leo. The Lions collected a five-set win over the Mocs at Saint Leo on Oct. 9. Following Tuesday's match, the Mocs will conclude the regular season next Saturday, Nov. 17 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with a 4 p.m. match against Nova Southeastern.
