Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern Volleyball continued its hot play here Saturday afternoon on "Hope for Addison" Day as the Moccasins posted a four-set victory over Barry (25-22, 21-25, 26-24, 25-12) in Sunshine State Conference play at Jenkins Field House.
The victory improved to the Mocs to 10-4 overall and 2-0 in the SSC and it also extended its winning streak to nine straight matches, which is the longest win streak since a nine match win streak during the 2008 season.
"What another good weekend for Florida Southern Volleyball," Mocs head coach Jill Stephens said. "It is great to open conference play with two wins and it was also nice to do it in front of our home crowd on Parent's Weekend."
Much like Friday's match with Lynn, the third set proved pivotal in the outcome of the match as the Mocs turned a 19-12 deficit into a 26-24 win in the third set against Barry. In its four-set win Friday over Lynn, the Mocs turned a 23-21 deficit into a 25-23 win in the third set against the Fighting Knights.
"We did a much better job down the stretch in the third set with our serve receive and played within our system," said Stephens, who is now 260-128 in her 12th season at her alma mater. "Plus, I thought we were able to execute better in the third set."
In Saturday's win, junior setter Ali Skayhan (Beaverton, Ore.) and sophomore right side hitter Gabby Fernandez (Tampa, Fla.) led the way offensively as they combined to each record 16 kills and hit a combined .509 for the match. Skayhan, who recorded just the fourth triple double in school history in Friday's match against Lynn, recorded a career-high 16 kills, hit .583 and had 37 assists for team leading ninth double-double, while Fernandez, who averaged 4.00 kills in two matches this weekend and hit .324, finished with 16 kills, three assisted blocks and hit .448 in the 122 minute match.
"Ali was a huge weapon for us tonight," the Mocs coach said. "She ran our offense well and we did a good job as a team serving and passing."
In two matches this weekend, Skayhan had 27 kills, 24 digs, three service aces and hit .522 in eight sets. She averaged 3.38 kills and 3.00 digs per set and posted a triple double against Lynn and had a double double against Barry.
In addition to Skayhan and Fernandez, senior outside hitter Anne Pietkiewicz (Winter Park, Fla.) posted 10 kills, six assists and eight digs, while sophomore outside hitter Kate Stromberg (Lexington, Ky.) added nine kills, two aces and a career-high 20 digs. For the match, FSC recorded 57 kills and 70 digs and held a 6-4 edge in blocks.
Barry jumped out to a 10-7 lead in the first set and led 12-11 when the Mocs went on an 8-3 run capped by a Skayhan kill to take a 19-15 lead. The Bucs (6-4, 1-1 SSC), though, used a 6-4 run to pull within 23-21, but could get no closer as the Mocs scored two of the final three points to earn the 25-22 win.
In the second set, Barry jumped out to a 13-7, but the Mocs used an 8-3 scoring capped by an error by the Bucs to pull within 16-15. BU, who was playing its second straight SSC match on the road after earning a 3-1 win Friday at Saint Leo, would hold off the Mocs as they scored nine of the set's final 15 points to even the match at a set apiece.
The Bucs would get off to a fast start in the third set as they led 10-6 early on and pushed its lead to as much as 17-11 following a block by Laine Cielena. Cielena's block forced the Mocs to call a timeout and out of that timeout, FSC would go on a 9-5 scoring run, including scoring four straight points with freshman setter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) serving, to pull within 22-20. The Mocs would eventually tie the set at 23 and take a 24-23 lead on an attack error by BU's Tania Torres, before the Bucs retied the set at 24 on a kill from Mariana Lisboa. FSC would hold off the Bucs as Pietkiewicz capped the set with back-to-back kills to give the Mocs a 26-24 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
In the fourth set, the Mocs dominated from the outset as they scored the first two points and grew its lead to as much as 13 points at 21-8 following a kill by Fernandez. The Bucs would get within 23-12, before the Mocs ended sealed the win with a kill from junior middle blocker Dominique Hale (Kingman, Ariz.) and an attack error by the Bucs.
Torres led the way for the Bucs with a double-double of 14 kills and 12 digs, while Lisboa added 12 kills and 13 digs and Jasmine Serna posted a team-high 19 digs in the loss.
For the match, the Mocs hit .236, while Barry finished with a .129 hitting percentage.
FSC will put its nine-match winning streak on the line on Friday, Sept. 28 as they travel up I-4 to face its SSC rival, Tampa, in a 7 p.m. match at the Bob Martinez Athletics Center.
See photos from Parents' Weekend and "Hope for Addison" pregame ceremony
