Box Score FORT LAUDERDALE - Florida Southern closed the 2012 regular season here Saturday by posting a four-set victory over Nova Southeastern (25-22, 25-19, 20-25, 25-17) in Sunshine State Conference action at NSU Arena.
With the win, the Moccasins, who are expected to earn its third straight NCAA Division II Tournament bid on Sunday evening, improved its record to 21-11 overall and 11-5 in the SSC, while NSU concludes the season with a 4-28 overall mark and a 1-15 record in league play. The victory also secures a third place finish in the league standings.
In Saturday's match, the Mocs used a strong offensive attack that produced three players with double figures in kills and a nine-kill edge overall in the match against the Sharks. For the match, FSC recorded 56 kills and hit .222, including recording 35 kills and hitting over .300 in the first two sets. The Sharks finished the match with 47 kills and a .159 hitting percentage.
Senior outside hitter Anne Pietkiewicz (Winter Park, Fla.) led the way with her 14th double-double of the season as she had 13 kills and 16 digs. In addition, Pietkiewicz, freshman middle blocker Kayshia Brady (Crescent City, Fla.) had 12 kills and hit .474, while sophomore right side hitter Gabby Fernandez (Tampa, Fla.) had 10 kills and eight digs in the win.
On defense, sophomore libero Jasmine Childress (Muncie, Ind.) recorded a career-high tying 20 digs, while freshman setter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) and junior middle blocker Dominique Hale (Kingman, Ariz.) each had three blocks.
In the first set, the Sharks jumped out to a 3-0 lead and led 7-4 when the Mocs used 9-4 run to take a 13-11 lead following an ace by Childress. NSU, though, scored two straight points to tie the set at 13. From that point, the teams traded the next four points, until the Mocs used a 5-2 run to turn a 15-all tie into a 20-17 edge. The Mocs would then score five of the final 10 points to take the first set, 25-20. In the first set, FSC had 19 kills and hit .317.
The Mocs jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second set and led 8-4 when the Sharks used a 6-3 run to pull within 11-10. The Mocs would answer with an 8-5 run to push its lead to 19-15 following back-to-back kills from Marotti. NSU would pull within 20-18, before the Mocs closed the set on a 5-1 run to post a 25-19 win and take a 2-0 lead in the match. In the set, the Mocs recorded 16 kills and hit .316.
In the third set, which was the most competitive of the match as it featured six ties and three lead changes, the Sharks took an early 5-3 lead and led 11-9 when the Mocs scored two consecutive points to tie the set at 11. After the team's traded points to tie the set at 12-all, the Sharks used a 10-5 run to take a 22-17 lead. Both teams would each three points each to close the third set as the Sharks posted a 25-20 win to force a fourth set.
The Mocs would dominate the fourth set as they used a 9-4 run to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 10-6 lead. The Sharks would pull within 10-7, before the Mocs used an 8-5 run to extend its lead to 18-12. After the Sharks scored four of the next seven points to pull within 21-16, the Mocs closed out the set and the match by scoring four of the final five points to post a 25-17 victory and earn its second win this year over the Sharks.
NSU was paced by 16 kills from Syndey Cook and 14 kills and eight digs from Dana Holger. Defensively, the Sharks had 70 digs and five blocks as Paige Boivin had a match-high 26 digs in the loss.
The Mocs will now wait to find out its postseason destination on Sunday, Nov. 18 as the NCAA will announce the 64-team field for the NCAA Division II Volleyball Tournament at 10 p.m. online at www.ncaa.com. The eight-team South Regional Tournament is scheduled to run from Thursday, Nov. 29 through Saturday, Dec. 1 at the site of the highest ranked team in the region. As of this past week's latest rankings, regular season SSC Champion Tampa was on course to host the regional as they were No. 1 in the poll.
