Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern pushed its win streak to two straight matches here Saturday afternoon as they posted a hard-fought four-set victory over Lynn (25-20, 23-25, 25-19, 25-19) in Sunshine State Conference play on Senior Day at Jenkins Field House.
Prior to the beginning of the match, the Moccasins honored its lone senior, middle blocker Dominique Hale (Kingman, Ariz.).
With the win, the Mocs improve to 19-8 overall on the season and 8-3 in the SSC, while Lynn fell to 16-12 overall and 3-7 in the league. In addition, the Mocs also swept the season series from the Fighting Knights for the second consecutive year as they posted a four-set win earlier this season in Boca Raton.
Saturday's win was aided by the play of Hale and junior outside hitter Kate Stromberg (Lexington, Ky.) as they combined to record 34 of FSC's 58 kills in the match, including combining for six kills apiece in the fourth and final set. On the day, Hale finished with a career-high 16 kills, hit .289 and added five blocks, including two solo blocks, while Stromberg posted her eighth double-double of the year as she recorded a season-high 18 kills and had 11 digs in the victory.
For the match, FSC hit just .201, but used strong serving as they had eight aces and a strong defensive effort that held Lynn to a .138 hitting percentage. The Mocs also recorded 77 digs in the match, as junior right side hitter Gabby Fernandez (Tampa, Fla.) has a match and season-high 23 digs, while sophomore setter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) posted 44 assists and 15 digs for her team-best 16th double-double.
The match was a competitive affair as it featured 24 ties and 13 lead changes, including nine ties and six lead changes in the second set, a set LU won, 25-23.
In the opening set, LU jumped out to a 2-0 lead and led 6-3 when the Mocs used a 15-6 run to take an 18-12 lead. The run was aided by five LU attack errors and capped by an ace from Fernandez. The Mocs lead would grow to 22-15 following a kill by Stromberg, before LU responded with a 5-2 run to pull within 24-20. That would be as close as the Fighting Knights would get as Hale delivered a kill to give the Mocs a 25-20 win. In the set, FSC hit .250 and held LU to a .103 hitting percentage.
For the second straight set, LU would jump to an early 3-0 lead and led 4-1 when the Mocs used an 8-3 run keyed by two Stromberg kills to take a 9-7 lead. The Fighting Knights, though, would come back with a 10-5 scoring run to take a 17-14 lead. The run was capped by an ace from Katie Knight. FSC would answer with a 6-3 run capped by back-to-back kills from Stromberg and Fernandez to tie the set at 20-all. The teams would then trade points until back-to-back kills from Knight and Sara Aloiso gave LU a 23-21 lead. After a service error by Mandy McIntosh dropped LU's lead to 23-22, the Mocs gave that point right back on a service error. Hale would deliver a kill to push FSC within one at 24-23, but LU took the set one point later on an attack error by freshman outside hitter Brindl Langley (Camas, Wash.) to post the 25-23 win.
In the third set, LU jumped out to a 7-2 lead, but the Mocs scored five straight points capped by a Stromberg kill to tie the set at 7-all. The Fighting Knights, though, would once again push its lead to 14-11, but FSC would answer with 5-0 run to take a 16-14 lead. After LU scored three straight points to take a 17-16 lead, the Mocs responded by closing out the set on a 9-2 run to post a 25-19 win and take a 2-1 edge in the match. The closing run was aided by four LU errors and capped by a Fernandez kill. In the set, FSC held LU to an .073 hitting percentage.
The fourth set was dominated by Stromberg and Hale as they combined for 12 of FSC's 20 kills and they hit a combined .385 in the set. In the set, The Mocs jumped out to a 10-7 lead, before LU used a 4-0 run to take an 11-10 lead. The lead would be shortlived as FSC answered with a 9-3 run to take a 19-14 advantage. During the run, Stromberg and Hale combined for five kills. After a kill by Hale gave FSC a 19-14 lead, the Fighting Knights would mount a comeback as they used a 4-0 run to pull within 19-18. That would be as close as LU would get as the Mocs closed out the set scoring six of the final seven points, including capping the win with a service ace by Langley to post a 25-19 win. Langley finished the match with eight kills, 16 digs and three aces.
Along with recording 23 digs, Fernandez also had seven kills and two aces in the win, while junior libero Catherine Brusie (North Branch, Mich.) had 10 digs on the day.
Liga Strautnice led the way offensively for Lynn as she had 11 kills, nine digs and four blocks in the loss, while Aloisio added nine kills, five blocks and hit .350. Nikki Haben led the Fighting Knights defense with 19 digs, while Marissa Tandron posted a double-double of 37 assists and 17 digs. LU finished the match with a 9.5-6 edge in total team blocks.
The Mocs will return to action on Wednesday, Nov. 6 as they host Eckerd in a 7 p.m. match at Jenkins Field House. The match will be the final one at home this season for the Mocs. Eckerd picked up a three-set victory over the Mocs in St. Petersburg on Oct. 2.
