Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern Volleyball continued its four-match homestand here Friday evening by posting a hard-fought five-set triumph over Florida Tech (25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 19-25, 15-9) in Sunshine State Conference action at Jenkins Field House.
The Moccasins, who improved to 18-11 overall and remained in third place in the league standings with an 8-5 record, used a career-high 20 kills and a .514 hitting percentage from freshman middle blocker Kayshia Brady (Crescent City, Fla.) and 12 kills and a .391 hitting percentage from junior middle blocker Dominique Hale (Kingman, Ariz.) to outlast the Panthers and move within two victories of earning its 20th win of the season.
"Florida Tech plays with low errors and they forced us to play pretty crisp tonight," Mocs head coach Jill Stephens said. "I'm really proud of the players for stepping up in that fifth set and playing really good volleyball. This was a win that we needed."
Brady recorded 13 of her 20 kills over the final three sets, including recording six in the fourth set. In the fifth and deciding set, Brady and Hale combined for four kills and four blocks.
"Kayshia is beginning to figure things out and really played a great match tonight," said the Mocs coach, who improved to 269-135 at the helm of her alma mater. "I also thought Dom played well tonight. We needed both of our middles to step up and they did."
In addition to Brady and Hale, sophomore right side hitter Gabby Fernandez (Tampa, Fla.) added 13 kills and 11 digs for her fifth double-double of the season, while freshman setter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) chipped in with nine kills and senior Anne Pietkiewicz (Winter Park, Fla.), who was honored in a prematch ceremony by Stephens and FSC President Dr. Anne Kerr for becoming just the seventh Moc to record 1,000 career kills and 1,000 carrer digs, had eight kills and 11 digs in the win.
Defensively, the Mocs were paced by 16 digs from both sophomore libero Jasmine Childress (Muncie, Ind.) and junior setter Ali Skayhan (Beaverton, Ore.). Along with her 16 digs, Skayhan added a season-high tying 54 assists for her 22nd double-double of the season. Both teams finished with six blocks in the match that lasted nearly two-and-half hours.
The match was an evenly contested affair as it featured 26 ties and 13 lead changes, including a combined 16 ties and eight lead changes in the first two sets. The Panthers also kept things close as they had 11 service aces and forced the Mocs into 12 service errors.
In the first set, neither team was able to mount much of a lead until the Mocs used an 8-1 run to turn an 11-9 deficit into a 17-12 lead. The Panthers, who fell to 15-11 overall and 5-8 in the SSC, responded with a 7-3 run to pull within 20-19. From that point, the Mocs would score two straight points to extend its lead to 22-19, before Tech used a 4-2 run to cut the Mocs lead to 24-23 following an ace by Angie Lassman. That would be Tech's final point of the set as Marotti capped the set with a kill to give the Mocs a 25-23 win.
The second set was a lot like the first as neither team was able to get much of an edge until the Panthers used an 11-7 scoring run to turn an 8-7 deficit into an 18-15 lead. The lead, though, was shortlived as the Mocs scored five of the next six points to take a 20-19 lead. The run was capped by back-to-back kills by Brady. Tech would answer with a five straight points to take a 24-20 lead. After a service error by Lassman stopped the run and pulled FSC within 24-21, Tech would hang on and earn the 25-21 lead thanks to an attack error by Fernandez.
In the third set, Tech jumped in front 3-0, but that lead quickly went away as the Mocs used a 10-4 scoring run to take a 10-7 lead following a kill by Marotti. The Mocs lead would grow to as much as 19-14, before Tech used an 9-5 run to pull within 24-23. Following an FSC timeout, the Mocs sealed its 25-23 win with a kill by Fernandez to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Much like sets one and two, the fourth set was another back-and-forth affair as the Mocs jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the early going. That would, though, vanished quickly as the Panthers used a 13-5 scoring run to take a 17-13 lead. Tech's run was aided by four attack errors from the Mocs. FSC would pull within 22-19 following back-to-back kills from Hale and Skayhan. That would be as close the Mocs would get as the Panthers closed the set by scoring the final three points to force a fifth and deciding set.
The Mocs would show its dominance in the fifth set as they jumped in front 3-0 and led by as much as six points on two occassions until the Panthers used a 3-0 run to trim a 12-6 Moc lead to 12-9. That would be as close as Tech would get as the Mocs scored the final three points of the set, including back-to-back aces from Skayhan to seal the victory and avenge a five-set loss to the Panthers earlier this season in Melbourne. Skayhan finished the night with four of FSC's seven service aces.
Janice Valies led the Panthers with 20 kills and added three blocks, while Kaitlin Brennan and Marilyn Dick each recorded eight kills in the loss. Lassman led the way defensively for Tech as she recorded a match-high 21 digs, while Alexis Mastela had a double-double as she posted 46 assists to go with her 16 digs.
For the match, the Mocs hit .246 and recorded 68 kills, including hitting .467 in the fifth set, while Tech finished with a .205 hitting percentage as they had 55 kills. Both teams combined for 45 attack errors.
The Mocs will continue its four-match homestand on Saturday afternoon as they host Rollins in a 4 p.m. Senior Day match at Jenkins Field House. Prior to the match, the Mocs will honor its two seniors - Pietkiewicz and middle blocker Morgan Kosterlitz (Dunedin, Fla.).
