Box Score LAKELAND - On Halloween evening here at Jenkins Field House, one team's winning streak was going to come to an end as 17th-ranked Florida Southern and No. 1 ranked Tampa met in a Sunshine State Conference battle. The Moccasins came into the match having won 11 consecutive matches, while UT had won 17 straight matches overall and 45 consecutive SSC matches dating to the 2011 season.
It was top-ranked Tampa that came out on top in Friday's match-up as the Spartans collected a four-set victory over the Moccasins (22-25, 18-25, 25-22, 20-25) to extend its win streak to 18 consecutive matches and improve to 22-1 overall and 10-0 in the SSC. FSC fell to 18-5 on the season and 9-2 in the league with both of its league losses coming at the hands of the Spartans.
"It is a huge rivalry between the two teams, our kids want to beat them as much as they want to beat us," Moccasin head coach Jill Stephens said following the nearly two hour match played in front of a season-high 673 fans. "Tampa is a great team. They are No. 1 for a reason.
"They are super offensive and we didn't get them out of system enough tonight to make it difficult for them to side out."
Friday's setback not only snapped the Mocs 11-match winning streak, which was tied for ninth longest in Division II, but it also snapped its 12 match home winning streak as FSC had won its first 12 home matches this season, including winning 11 of them in straight sets.
Despite the loss, redshirt senior setter Ali Skayhan (Beaverton, Ore.) recorded her fourth career triple-double as she finished the night with 10 kills, 18 digs and 40 assists and hit a team-best .562 against the Spartans. It was just the seventh triple-double in program history and the first for Skayhan since collecting 10 kills, 45 assists and 12 digs against Eckerd in the first round of the NCAA Division II South Regional Tournament in 2012.
"Ali played another outstanding match tonight. She is a phenomenal setter, very well rounded and runs a great offense." Stephens said. "She was really offensive tonight and did what she needed to do. I'm really proud for her."
On the night, two of the top hitting teams in all of Division II Volleyball were held under their season hitting percentages as UT entered the match leading Division II with a .335 attack percentage, but finished Friday's match hitting just .258. Meanwhile, FSC came into the night ninth in D-II in hitting percentage at .266 and finished the match with a .209 attack percentage.
Along with Skayhan's 10 kills, the Mocs offense was led by a 15 kill night from junior middle blocker Kayshia Brady(Welaka, Fla.). In addition to the 15 kills, Brady extended her streak of hitting over .300 to 12 consecutive matches as she hit .343 against UT. The third Moccasin with double-digit kills on the night was senior outside hitter Kate Stromberg (Lexington, Ky.) as she finished 11 kills, hit .312 and added 14 digs for her fourth double-double of the season.
In addition to the 18 digs from Skayhan and 14 digs from Stromberg, sophomore outside hitter Brindl Langley(Camas, Wash.) had 15 digs for the match.
FSC finished the night with 52 kills and also recorded 71 digs, but were outblocked on the night, 8-5. The Mocs entered the match as the top blocking team in the SSC as they were averaging 2.36 blocks per set. It was just the third time this season the Mocs had been outblocked in a match.
The first set was a barnburner as it featured nine ties and three lead changes. FSC jumped out to a 4-1 lead and led 12-10 when the Spartans used a 6-3 scoring run capped by a Kahley Patrick ace to take a 16-15 lead. The lead was the first of the set for UT. The Mocs, though, came right back and scored two straight points to retake the lead at 17-16, before UT answered with a 5-2 flurry to push out to a 21-19 advantage. The Spartans lead would grow to 23-20 following back-to-back kills from Jessica Wagner and Berkley Whaley, before FSC scored two of the next three points to pull within 24-22. UT would seal the 25-22 win on an attack error by Brady. In the set, both teams hit .300 or better and combined for 33 kills as FSC had 17 and UT had 16.
In the second set belonged to the Spartans as they jumped out to a 14-4 lead and led 14-6 when the Mocs used a 6-5 scoring run to pull within 19-12. After UT scored two straight points to push its lead to 21-12, the Mocs would rally to score five of the next six points, including capping the run with a kill from freshman outside hitter Anna Tovo (Aiken, S.C.) to pull within 22-17. That would be as close as the Mocs would get as UT would score three of the set's final four points to post a 25-18 win and take a 2-0 lead in the match. In the second set, UT hit .379 and the Mocs hit .156 as a team.
"That first set was a hard fought set, but we didn't serve real tough at the end to get them (UT) out of system and win a set," the 14-year Moccasin coach added. "It boils down to a serve and pass game and we struggled there at times tonight and didn't follow our game plan at key points and gave Tampa some easy points, and you can't give them any easy points."
Much like the first set, the third set was another back-and-forth affair as it featured 11 ties and five lead changes. In the set, the Mocs jumped out to an early 7-3 lead and led 8-7 when the Spartans used a 5-3 run capped by a Meagan Burke kill to take a 12-11 lead. The lead, though, was shortlived as a kill by Brady jumpstarted a 5-2 flurry by the Mocs to push its lead out to a 16-14. UT would score the next two points to tie the set at 16, before FSC used a 4-1 run capped by back-to-back kills from Tovo and freshman middle blocker Allie Geary (Deland, Fla.) to push its lead to 20-17. The Spartans wouldn't go away without a fight as they scored three of the next four points to drop FSC's lead to 21-20. FSC would respond by closing out the set by scoring four of the final six points to seal its 25-22 win. The Mocs held UT to an .098 hitting percentage in the set, while they hit .163.
"We were highly motivated as a team in the third set and I thought we did a good job following the game plan and it showed," the Mocs coach commented.
Trailing 2-1 in the match, the Mocs opened the fourth set by jumping out to an early 4-1 lead, before the Spartans, who have now won 16 straight matches in the series against the Mocs, rallied to score seven of the next nine points to take an 8-6 lead. The Spartans lead would grow to as much as 21-12, before the Mocs used an 8-3 scoring run capped by a solo block from Brady to pull within 24-20. That would be as close as FSC would get as the Spartans would seal its 25-20 set and match win one play later on a Moccasin attack error. In the set, UT hit .324 as they recorded 15 kills, while FSC hit .211 and had 14 kills.
UT was paced offensively on the night by Whaley as the reigning SSC Offensive Player of the Week finished the match with 17 kills, 14 digs, three blocks and hit .444. In addition to Berkley, Burke added 13 kills, two blocks and hit .409, while Marissa Lisenbee had 12 kills and eight digs and Wagner added 11 kills and hit a team-high .529.
The Spartans also got a double-double from Patrick as the senior setter had 54 assists and added a match-high 20 digs in the win.
FSC will look to start another win streak in less than 24 hours as they return to action on Saturday, Nov. 1 to host Eckerd (12-13 overall, 3-9 SSC) in a 4 p.m. SSC match. Eckerd dropped its third consecutive SSC match on Friday as the Tritons fell in three sets at Saint Leo.
"We have to have a short memory and be ready to care of business tomorrow against Eckerd," Stephens added.
