Box Score WINTER PARK - Florida Southern concluded the first half of Sunshine State Conference play here Saturday afternoon with a three-set victory over Rollins (25-20, 25-12, 25-16) at Warden Arena on the Rollins campus.
The Moccasins, who began a two-match road swing with Saturday's match, used a strong defensive effort and a balanced offensive attack to improve its record to 11-4 overall and 7-1 in the SSC. The victory helped the Mocs remain in second place in the league standings. Rollins fell to 11-6 overall and 5-3 in the league with the loss.
"I thought we did a good job, both offensively and defensively today against a good Rollins team," Moccasin head coach Jill Stephens said following the 90-minute match. "Ali (Skayhan) did a good job at distributing the ball and our defense really did a good job holding them (Rollins) down."
In Saturday's match, the Mocs recorded 45 kills and had just seven attack errors as they hit .345 in the win, while holding Rollins to an .083 attack percentage. The Tars had 31 kills, but committed 21 attack errors in the setback. It was the fifth time this season FSC has hit over .300 in a match as they entered play on Saturday second in the SSC in team hitting percentage (.258).
It was the fourth time this season that the Mocs have held an opponent to under a .100 attack percentage in a match and the first time since limiting Florida Tech to an .050 hitting percentage in its three-set win in Lakeland on Sept. 20.
"We had a good plan for the match defensively and I thought we went out and executed it well," said Stephens, who improved to 305-154 in her 14th season at the helm of the Mocs.
FSC's offensive attack was paced by nine kills apiece from junior middle blocker Kayshia Brady (Welaka, Fla.), junior right side hitter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) and freshman outside hitter Anna Tovo (Aiken, S.C.). In addition to those three players, senior outside hitter Kate Stromberg (Lexington, Ky.) added eight kills and 12 kills and hit .444 in the win. For the match, five Moccasins hit over .300, including Brady and Tovo each hitting a match-high .471.
In their last three matches, Tovo and Brady have combined for 49 kills and a .486 hitting percentage as Tovo has recorded 29 kills and is hitting .458 and Brady has had 20 kills and is hitting .514.
Defensively, the Mocs were paced by 12 digs apiece from Stromberg and senior libero Catherine Brusie (North Branch, Mich.), while Brady and sophomore middle blocker Rachel Mostert (Clearwater, Fla.) combined to record two blocks apiece as FSC held a 6-1 edge in total team blocks.
Redshirt senior setter Ali Skayhan (Beaverton, Ore.) continued to efficiently run the Moccasin offense as she finished the match with 31 assists, nine digs, added four kills and hit .300 in the win.
In the first set, the Mocs jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening set and led 8-1 before Rollins scored six of the next seven points to pull within 9-7. The Mocs would use a 4-1 run to extend its lead to 13-8, before the Tars answered with a 7-3 run to pull within 17-15. Two quick points from the Mocs gave the visitors a 19-15 lead, until Rollins used 5-4 run to drop FSC's lead to 23-20. Back-to-back kills from Tovo capped the 25-20 victory. The Mocs hit .293 in the set and held the Tars to a .104 attack percentage.
Rollins jumped to an 2-0 lead and led 4-2 in the second set when the Mocs used a 9-2 run capped by a Tovo kill to take an 11-6 lead. The Tars would score three straight points to pull within 11-9. That would be as close as Rollins would get, though, as the Mocs scored 14 of the set's final 17 points, including capping the 25-12 win with a kill from Brady. In the set, the Mocs defense held Rollins to an -.056 hitting percentage, while they hit .407 in the win.
The Mocs jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the third set, before Rollins used a 5-3 scoring run to tie the set a 8-all. The Mocs, though, would respond with a 5-0 run to take a 13-8 lead. After a kill by Rollins' Kate Stefanski stopped the run, the Mocs scored seven of the next 12 points to take a 20-13 lead. After a kill by Jessica Wilson moved the Tars within six points at 20-14, the Mocs would close out the set by scoring five of the final seven points, including capping the 25-16 win with a Mostert kill. In the third set, the Mocs hit .357 and held Rollins to a .194 hitting percentage.
Rollins, who remains alone in third place in the league standings, was paced by a 10 kill afternoon from Shannon McDonough. McDonough had five of her 10 kills in the opening set. Along with McDonough, Wilson finished with eight kills and hit a team-best .316 for the Tars in the loss.
The Mocs will conclude the two-match road swing Monday, Oct. 13 with a 5 p.m. non-conference match in West Palm Beach against 22nd-ranked Palm Beach Atlantic (18-0).
"It is a huge match for us on Monday at Palm Beach Atlantic," Stephens added.
