Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern used a strong defensive effort here Tuesday night to post a four-set victory over Saint Leo (25-19, 22-25, 25-23, 25-23) in the Sunshine State Conference opener for both teams at Jenkins Field House.
With the victory, the Moccasins improved to 8-3 on the season and 1-0 in the SSC and extended its win streak to five consecutive matches, while SLU fell to 9-4 and 0-1 in the SSC.
While its offense was a little off on the night, the Mocs turned its defense as they held SLU to an .098 hitting percentage for the match, including a combined .083 hitting percentage over the final two sets. The Lions entered the match hitting an SSC leading .298 on the year. The .298 hitting percentage was eighth nationally in this week's latest NCAA Division II statistics.
"SLU is a very good offensive team, but I thought we slowed them down and really played outstanding defense tonight," Mocs head coach Jill Stephens said following the match that lasted a little over two hours.
On the night, FSC recorded 10 team blocks and 80 digs and forced the Lions into 32 attack errors and eight service errors. The Mocs finished the game with 24 attack and nine service errors. FSC finished the night hitting .129 as a team in the win.
Two Mocs recorded 20 or more digs on the night as junior libero Catherine Brusie (North Branch, Mich.) tallied an FSC career-best 26 digs, while junior outside hitter Kate Stromberg (Lexington, Ky.) added 20 digs and recorded seven kills in the win. In addition to the digs, sophomore middle blocker Kayshia Brady (Welaka, Fla.) and sophomore setter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) who was named the SSC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, each had five blocks, while senior middle blocker Dominique Hale (Kingman, Ariz.) added three blocks for the match. Marotti also finished with 39 assists and nine digs.
After trading off wins in the first two sets, the Lions jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the third set and led 8-5 when the Mocs used an 11-6 run to take a 16-13 lead following an ace by Stromberg. Stromberg finished the night with a season-high tying three aces. SLU, though, would respond with a 10-7 run to tie the set at 23. That would be as close as the Lions would get as FSC scored the set's final two points, including capping the set with an assisted block from Brady and junior right side hitter Gabby Fernandez (Tampa, Fla.).
It appeared early on in the fourth set that the team would be in line to play a fifth and deciding set as the Lions jumped out to a 10-2 lead and led 11-3 when the Mocs used a 14-6 run to tie the set at 17. The run was aided by seven errors from the Lions and capped by a kill from Fernandez. SLU, though, responded with a 3-0 run to take a 20-17 lead. The lead would be shortlived as FSC scored three straight points to tie the set at 20. From that point, the teams would trade points until the Mocs scored the set's final two points thanks to back-to-back errors from the Lions to post the 25-23 win and earn the victory.
"I was really proud of our team for the way we gutted it out and clawed our way back into the fourth set after SLU jumped out to a big lead," said Stephens, who improved to 280-139 in her 13th season at the helm of her alma mater. "We really barred down and got after it in that fourth set."
For the night, Fernandez led the Mocs offense with 11 kills and 12 digs for her first double-double this season and seventh of her career, while Hale, who was named this week's SSC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, added 10 kills in the win. Freshman outside hitter Brindl Langley (Camas, Wash.) added eight kills and nine digs and Brady chipped in with seven kills for the Mocs.
The Mocs offense finished with 45 kills and 24 attack errors in the win and both teams each recorded six aces.
SLU was paced by 13 kills apiece from Meghan Donovan and Hope Lemon, while Jillian Stolzenburg added 11 kills and four blocks, but had eight attack errors on the night. Yaidimar Santiago finished with a team-high 21 digs and Lauren Campbell added 18 for the Lions as they recorded 87 as a team.
The Mocs will hit the road this weekend for back-to-back SSC matches in South Florida. The road trip will begin on Friday, Sept. 27 with a 7 p.m. match at Lynn (10-3, 0-0 SSC), before traveling to Fort Lauderdale for a 4 p.m. match on Saturday, Sept. 28 at Nova Southeastern (3-5, 0-0 SSC).
