Box Score TAMPA - After playing five set matches the past four seasons in the first round of the NCAA Division II South Regional Tournament, the 13th-ranked Moccasins made sure a fifth set wouldn't be necessary here Thursday afternoon as they posted a three-set victory over No. 7 seed Shorter (25-13, 25-18, 25-16) in the first round of the 2014 South Regional Tournament at the Martinez Athletics Center on the University of Tampa campus.
With the victory, the Mocs improve to 25-5 overall on the season and are now 21-30 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and also won its fourth consecutive opening round match since falling in five sets to Rollins in the first round of the 2010 South Regional. Shorter ended its season with a 21-6 record.
"First off, we're super excited to be here and make another regional tournament. Shorter is a really great defensive team, it was really tough to put balls down today," Moccasin head coach Jill Stephens said in the post match press conference. "Our players played with a great intensity and got off to a good start in the first set and then we continued to really work hard, serve tough, stay aggressive, pass really well and stayed in system a lot."
In Thursday's match, the Mocs jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the opening set and never trailed in any set in the 69 minute match against the Gulf South Conference regular season champion Lady Hawks, who were making their NCAA Tournament debut. On the other hand, the Mocs were making its 28th NCAA Tournament appearance and played their 51st NCAA Tournament match on Thursday. The match did feature a total of eight ties, including six in the third set.
Stephens said that her team this year has amazing ability to get off to good starts.
"Our team has done a really good job of having a great mentality, walking in the gym and just wanting to fight for every point," said Stephens, who is now 11-11 in NCAA Tournament matches as FSC's coach. "That's what's unique about this team, we've gotten off to some good starts, compared to teams in the past. We are definitely good starters."
In Thursday's win, the Mocs offense recorded 38 kills, 57 digs and outblocked Shorter, 9-4 and hit .246 as a team in the win. Shorter entered the match ninth in Division II in opponents hitting percentage on season as their opponents were hitting just .117 on the season.
Leading the way for the Mocs was junior right side hitter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) as she had nine kills, eight digs, two blocks and hit .429 in the victory. In addition to Marotti, senior outside hitter Kate Stromberg(Lexington, Ky.) had eight kills, 12 digs and two blocks, while redshirt senior setter Ali Skayhan (Beaverton, Ore.) added six kills, 28 assists, seven digs and hit .500 for the match.
Defensively for the Mocs, who were outdug, 63-57, senior libero Catherine Brusie (North Branch, Mich.) had 19 digs, while Stromberg added 12 digs and sophomore middle blocker Rachel Mostert (Clearwater, Fla.) had four blocks, including two solo blocks on the afternoon.
In the first set, the Mocs jumped out to a 7-0 lead and eventually led by as much as 11 points at 20-9. The Lady Hawks, who closed the season losing its final two matches after falling in five sets to North Alabama in last Saturday's GSC Tournament semifinals, scored three of the next five points to pull within 22-12. FSC, though, would score three of the set's final four points to post a 25-13 win. FSC hit .242 in the set and had five blocks, while Shorter hit .-.171 as they had three kills and nine attack errors on its 35 total attempts.
Much like the first set, the Mocs jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set and led 17-10 when the Lady Hawks used a 5-3 run capped by a Morgan Cleveland kill to pull within 20-15. The would be as close as Shorter would get as the Mocs would close the set scoring five of the final eight points, including capping the 25-18 win with a Mostert kill. In the set, the Mocs hit .229 and held Shorter to a .104 attack percentage.
Leading 2-0 in the match, the Mocs jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the third set, before Shorter used an 8-3 run to tie the set at 12 following a Cleveland kill. The Mocs, though, would respond with a 7-2 run capped by back-to-back aces from Brusie to push out to a 19-14 advantage. The Lady Hawks would score two of the next three points to drop FSC's lead to 20-16, but could get no closer as the Mocs scored the final five points of the set to post a 25-16 set win. In the set, the Mocs hit .273 and Shorter hit .147 as the team each recorded 12 kills.
"We have a lot of senior players on this team that have been in a regional," Skayhan said when asked about the match-up with No. 7 seeded Shorter. "This is the top teams in the region, so every match is going to be a dogfight. Everyone came in today with a pretty competitive mentality and set goals and we just have to keep chipping away to get to those goals."
Shorter was paced by seven kills and a .211 hitting percentage from Anna Graham, while Elizabeth Dowd had six kills and 16 digs and Cleveland added six kills and six digs in the loss. The Lady Hawks defense was paced by a match-high 20 digs from Cheyenne McLemore, while Dena Pierce had a double-double of 12 assists and 11 digs.
Thursday's win set up a third meeting on Friday with 19th-ranked and No. 3 seeded Palm Beach Atlantic (29-3) in the first of two South Regional semifinal matches at the Martinez Athletics Center. The semifinal match is set to begin at 5 p.m. Palm Beach Atlantic advanced to the regional semifinals following its four-set win over No. 6 seeded West Florida (21-25, 25-13, 25-19, 25-23) in Thursday's first quarterfinal match. The Mocs swept the regular season series from the Sailfish as they won in five sets in West Palm Beach on Oct. 13 and posted a three-set win in Lakeland on Nov. 4.
"It will be another dogfight. PBA is a fun team to play," said Skayhan, who is one of four Mocs that earned All-SSC honors this season. "We played them both on the road and at home this season and both matches were really intense and energetic."
