Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern continued its hot play here Friday afternoon as the 25th-ranked Moccasins rolled to a three-set victory over North Alabama (25-20, 25-14, 25-18) its second match at the South Regional Crossover Tournament at Jenkins Field House.
The Mocs, who improved to 14-4 overall with the win and 10-0 at home on the season, earned its seventh consecutive win and its 10th win in its last 11 matches with the only setback being a four-set loss at top-ranked Tampa on Sept. 27. North Alabama fell to 13-7 on the season with the loss.
In Friday's match, the Mocs offense was once again efficient against the Lions from the Gulf South Conference as they hit over .300 in all three sets and finished the match with a .347 attack percentage. The Mocs have now hit over .300 in four of its last five matches and seven times overall on the season.
Six Mocs finished the match with four or more kills, including sophomore outside hitter Brindl Langley (Camas, Wash.) recording a team-high nine kills and hitting a season-high tying .467 in the match that lasted 75 minutes. In addition to Langley's nine kills, freshman outside hitter Anna Tovo (Aiken, S.C.) had seven kills, while junior middle blocker Kayshia Brady (Welaka, Fla.) added six kills and hit a team-best .667. For the match, six Mocs hit over .300 in the victory.
While its offense was balanced, the Mocs defense was very solid as they outdug the Lions, 58-45 and outblocked them, 5-1. The Lions, though, kept pace in the match thanks to recording six aces, incluidng three in the first set. It was just third time this season that an opponent had outaced the Mocs in a match as the Mocs entered the weekend second in the SSC and 36th nationally in aces per set with 1.77 per set.
FSC's defense was paced by 19 kills from senior libero Catherine Brusie (North Branch, Mich.), while Langley added 11 digs and redshirt senior setter Ali Skayhan (Beaverton, Ore.) had eight digs and added 31 assists and five kills and hit .625 in the win. Junior right side hitter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) and freshman middle blocker Allie Geary (Deland, Fla.) combined for seven blocks as Marotti had four and Geary added three.
In the first set, UNA jumped out to a 14-10 lead, before the Mocs used a 6-2 scoring run capped by a kill from Brady to tie the set at 16 apeice. A service error by Skayhan stopped the run, but the Mocs would respond by scoring seven consecutive points, including when senior outside hitter Kate Stromberg (Lexington, Ky.) wa serving to push out to a 23-17 advantage. UNA stopped the run with a kill from Natasha Fomina and would two of the next four points to pull within 24-20, before a service error from the Lions' Ashtyn Kapovich sealed the Mocs 25-20 win.
The second set belonged to the Mocs as they hit .375 as a team and held UNA to an .059 attack percentage en route to earning a 25-14 win to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Langley had four of her nine kills in the set, while Brady and Stromberg added three kills apiece.
In the third set, the Lions scored the first three points and led 7-3 when the Mocs used a 6-2 scoring run capped by a Tovo kill to tie the set at 9-all. The teams would trade points until the Mocs used a 4-1 run to turn a 13-12 deficit into a 16-14 lead. The run was capped by a Geary kill. After a kill from Fomina dropped FSC's lead to 16-15, the Mocs scored seven of the next nine points to push its lead out to 23-17, including capping the run with back-to-back kills from Skayhan and sophomore middle blocker Rachel Mostert (Clearwater, Fla.). FSC would close the set by scoring two of the final three points to seal its 25-18 win and its ninth three-set home win of the season.
UNA, who earned a four-set win at Rollins on Thursday night, was paced 12 kills and a .323 attack percentage from Megan Gorey. Fomina added nine kills in the loss, while Kapovich recorded 11 digs and had two of her team's six aces.
The Mocs will conclude the second day of action at the South Regional Crossover as they face Lee (Tenn.) University in a 7:30 p.m. match later on Friday. Lee opened the event with a three-set loss on Friday afternoon to No. 1 ranked Tampa (25-15, 25-19, 25-19). FSC will conclude the South Regional Crossover with a 5 p.m. match on Saturday, Oct. 18 against Valdosta State.
