Box Score BOCA RATON - Florida Southern hit the road for the first time this season in Sunshine State Conference play here Friday evening and posted a four-set victory over Lynn (25-20, 24-26, 25-22, 25-12) at the deHoernle Center on the LU campus to extend its winning streak to six consecutive matches.
With the win, the Moccasins improve to 9-3 overall and 2-0 in the SSC, while Lynn falls to 10-4 overall and 0-1 in the SSC.
In Friday's win, the Mocs received double-double efforts from three players as sophomore setter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) had 38 assists and 10 digs and hit .625 for her team leading seventh double-double, while junior right side hitter Gabby Fernandez (Tampa, Fla.) had 11 kills and 11 digs for he second consecutive double-double and freshman outside hitter Brindl Langley (Camas, Wash.) added 11 kills and 15 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. One other Moc, junior outside hitter Kate Stromberg (Lexington, Ky.) just missed a double-double by one kill as she finished with nine kills and 20 digs.
The win was also keyed by strong serving by the Mocs as they finished with a season-high 10 aces, including a career-high tying four by Fernandez and a season-high three by junior libero Catherine Brusie (North Branch, Mich.). Eight of the 10 aces came in the second and third sets.
In the first set, FSC jumped out to a strong start as they scored the first three points and jumped out to a 12-6 lead that was capped by back-to-back attack errors by LU's Mary Claire Angelish. The Fighting Knights, who were playing their initial SSC match of the year, would battle back as they used a 9-4 run to pull within 16-15. That would be as close as LU would get, though, as the Mocs closed the set on a 9-5 run to post a 25-20 win.
The second set was a back-and-forth affair that featured five ties and three lead changes. LU would jump out to a 4-1 lead, but the Mocs responded with a 9-2 run to take a 10-6 lead. The run was keyed by four kills from Langley, who had five of her match-high tying 11 in the set. The Fighting Knights, though, would answer with an 11-7 run to tie the set at 17. After a kill by Stromberg gave the Mocs an 18-17 lead, LU would jump back in front thanks to a 6-0 run that was aided by four FSC errors. The Mocs wouldn't go away without a fight as they used a 6-1 run capped by a Fernandez ace to tie the set at 24. The ace was one of three in the set by Fernandez. LU would ultimately prevail in the set as they scored the final two points to post a 26-24 win and even the match at a set apiece.
Much like the second set, the third set was another back-and-forth tilt as it featured six ties and three lead changes. LU jumped out to a 4-0 lead and led 12-8 when the Mocs used a 9-4 run to take a 17-16 lead following a kill by Hale. The run was aided by three services aces, including two from Stromberg. The Fighting Knights, though, would come right back and tie the set at 17 on a next points thanks to a kill from Elyse Fleck. The Mocs would close out the set by scoring eight of the final 13 points, including sealing the win on back-to-back kills by Fernandez to post the 25-22 victory and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth set was all FSC as the Mocs jumped out to a 6-1 lead and never looked back as they led by as much as 13 points en route to posting a 25-12 win. In the set, the Mocs recorded 14 kills and hit .294, while limiting the Fighting Knights to a -.125 hitting percentage as they had four kills and eight attack errors in 32 attack attempts.
In addition to the 11 kills posted by both Fernandez and Langley, senior middle blocker Dominique Hale (Kingman, Ariz.) and sophomore middle blocker Kayshia Brady (Welaka, Fla.) each posted eight kills and combined for five blocks in the win, while Brusie added 18 digs to go with her three aces.
Lynn was paced by 14 kills and a .312 hitting percentage by Angie Caple, while Lizzy Raffa added eight kills and Marissa Tandron had a double-double of 36 assists and 17 digs and added four blocks in the loss. Nikki Haben led the Fighting Knights defensive attack as he recorded a match-high 28 digs.
For the match, FSC hit .153 and recorded 52 kills, 81 digs and a seven total team blocks, while Lynn recorded 43 kills and hit .086 and had 87 digs and 11 total team blocks.
The Mocs will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 28 as they travel to Fort Lauderdale to face Nova Southeastern in a 4 p.m. SSC match at the Don Taft Center on the NSU campus.
