DENVER - Led by 17 kills from sophomore middle blocker Kayshia Brady and 14 kills from junior outside hitter Kate Stromberg, Florida Southern topped No. 9 West Texas A&M (25-21, 15-25, 25-21, 25-17) here Saturday evening in the first place match of the Bronze Division at the Colorado Premier Challenge at the Auraria Events Center on the Metro State campus.

With the victory, the Moccasins finish 2-2 in the two-day event and finish first in the Bronze Division (third place pool play teams). The win also improves FSC to 5-3 on the season, while West Texas A&M falls to 6-3 and complete the tournament with a 1-3 record.

Brady (.375 hitting percentage) and Stromberg's (.256 hitting percentage) strong offensive nights were very evident over the final two sets as they combined to record 22 kills of their team's 37 kills. Brady had five kills in the third set and seven in the fourth set, while Stromberg added three kills in the third set and had seven in the decisive fourth set.

In addition to Brady and Stromberg, junior right side hitter Gabby Fernandez (Tampa, Fla.) and freshman outside hitter Brindl Langley (Camas, Wash.) each had nine kills and combined for 16 digs, while senior middle blocker Dominique Hale (Kingman, Ariz.) added eight kills and four blocks in the victory.

The Mocs jumped out to a 13-8 lead in the first set and led 15-10 when the Buffaloes used a 7-4 run to drop FSC's lead to 19-17 following a kill by Lee Golden. Following Golden's kill, the Mocs used a 5-0 run capped by a ball handling error by WTAMU's Kyli Schulz to push its lead to 24-19. The Buffaloes would score two straight points to pull within 24-21, but Stromberg ended the set with her third kill of the match to seal the Mocs 25-21 win.

Trailing 1-0 in the match, West Texas came out and dominated the second set as they hit .282 and recorded 14 kills and two blocks, while limiting the Mocs to an .020 hitting percentage as FSC had nine kills and eight attack errors. In the set, WTAMU jumped out to an 11-2 lead and never trailed by more than nine points the rest of the set and they collected a 25-15 win to even the match.

The third set was a lot like the first set as the Mocs jumped out to an 8-3 lead and led 19-10 when WTAMU began a comeback as they used an 11-5 run to pull within 24-21. The run was keyed by five FSC attack errors. That would be as close as the Buffaloes would get as Langley ended the set with a kill to seal her team's 25-21 win to give the Mocs a 2-1 advantage in the match.

In the fourth set, the Mocs turned things over to Brady and Stromberg as they helped the Mocs offense record 21 kills and hit .308. After WTAMU took an early 3-2 lead in the set, the Mocs used a 14-5 scoring run to push out to a 17-8 lead. The run was keyed by three kills from Brady and capped by a kill from Hale. The Buffaloes, though, used a 6-3 run to pull within 20-14, but the Mocs would close the set and the match by scoring five of the set's eight points to seal its first win this season over a ranked team.

While its offense recorded 63 kills and hit .209, its defense also played well against the Buffaloes as they recorded 78 digs and had seven blocks. WTAMU had 50 kills, 80 digs and nine blocks in the loss.

Junior libero Catherine Brusie (North Branch, Mich,) led the Mocs defense with 21 digs, while Stromberg tallied 18 digs for her third double-double of the season and sophomore setter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) picked up her fifth double-double of the season as she had 47 assists and 11 digs.

Lauren Bevan led the way for the Buffaloes with 13 kills, while Halie Harton added a double-double of 12 kills and 21 digs.

The Mocs will now take a week off before returning to action next Saturday, Sept. 21 with two matches at the Saint Leo Classic. The Mocs will open the event with a 9 a.m. match on the 21st against Cederville (Ohio) and will conclude with a 3 p.m. match-up against South Dakota School of Mines. FSC's next home match is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 24 as they open Sunshine State Conference play with a 7 p.m. match against Saint Leo.