Box Score DENVER - Nearly a little more than five hours after taking No. 1 ranked Concordia-St. Paul to five sets before falling to the Golden Bears, Florida Southern played another five set thriller here Friday evening as the Moccasins fell in five sets to Metro State in the Colorado Premier Challenge at the Auraria Events Center on the Metro State University campus.
With the setback, FSC falls to 3-2 on the young season, while Metro State improves to 5-1 overall.
In the loss to the Roadrunners, the Mocs, who received 88 votes in this week's first regular season AVCA D-II Coaches' Poll, recorded 60 kills and hit .230 and on defense, they recorded 66 digs and had seven total team blocks. Metro State, who also received 88 votes in the first regular season AVCA D-II Coaches' Poll, finished with 72 kills, hit .261 as a team and had 71 digs and totaled seven team blocks. The biggest difference in the match for the Mocs was its edge in aces as they recorded eight and had just three service errors, while MSU had just one ace and committed 10 service errors.
The Mocs offense was once again paced by the play of senior outside hitter Kate Stromberg (Lexington, Ky.) as she followed up her 22 kill and 12 dig performance against CUSP with 18 kills and nine digs in Friday night's match. With her 18 kills, Stromberg is now three kills shy of 900 career kills as a Moccasin.
In addition to Stromberg's offense, junior middle blocker Kayshia Brady (Welaka, Fla.) added 15 kills, three blocks and hit .522 in the loss, while junior right side hitter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) chipped in with eight kills, seven digs and three assisted blocks and sophomore outside hitter Brindl Langley (Camas, Wash.) had seven kills and nine digs.
The match against Metro State was an evenly-matched contest as the two teams combined for 35 ties and 13 lead changes, including a total of 20 ties in the first two sets combined. In the first set, there were 10 ties and 5 lead changes, while the second set had 10 ties and four lead changes.
The Mocs jumped out to 7-5 lead in the first set, before MSU used an 8-3 scoring run capped by a Kylee Hoagland kill to take a 13-10 lead. FSC would respond by scoring three straight points to tie the set at 13. From that point, the teams would trade the lead until MSU used a 3-1 lead to turn a 16-all tie into a 19-17 lead following a Stromberg service error. After a kill by Marotti brought the Mocs within 19-18, the Roadrunners closed the set scoring six of the final eight points to post the 25-20 win. In the set, MSU hit .368 and held the Mocs to a .129 hitting percentage.
MSU jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the early going of the second set, before the Mocs responded with a 14-5 run keyed by a combined five kills from Stromberg and Marotti to take a 14-8 lead. MSU would mount a rally as they used a 7-1 run to tie the set at 15, before the Mocs answered with a 4-1 run to push its lead out to 19-16. The Roadrunners, though, used a 7-2 run to take 23-21 lead. Back-to-back kills from redshirt senior setter Ali Skayhan(Beaverton, Ore.) and sophomore middle blocker Rachel Mostert (Clearwater, Fla.) tied the set at 23, MSU would close the set scoring three of the final four points to post a 26-24 win and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Trailing 2-0 in the match, the Mocs come out and dominated the third set as they hit .417 and held MSU to a -.030 hitting percentage en route to posting an impressive 25-11 win. In the set, Brady had four of her 15 kills and Langley had five of her team's 14 digs in the set.
The fourth set was another back-and-forth affair as the Mocs jumped out to a 3-0 lead and led 7-4 when MSU used a 5-2 run to tie the set at 9-all. The two teams would then trade points until the Mocs turned an 11-all tie into a 14-11 lead that was capped by an ace from senior libero Catherine Brusie (North Branch, Mich.). After a kill by Michaela Smith stopped the Mocs run, FSC pushed its lead to 17-13. MSU would score four straight points to tie the set, before a Langley kill gave the Mocs an 18-17 edge. The Roadrunners, though, would answer with a 6-3 run to take a 23-21 lead, before Stromberg took over the set as she had four kills and the Mocs sealed the win with a kill by freshman middle blocker Allie Geary (DeLand, Fla.) to help the Mocs rally to post a 26-24 win and force a fifth and deciding set. In the set, Stromberg recorded eight of her 18 kills.
MSU jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fifth set and led 4-2 when the Mocs used a 6-3 run capped by a Skayhan kill to take an 8-7 lead. The Roadrunners, though, would score two straight points to take a 9-8 lead, before another kill from Skayhan retied the set at 9 apiece. From that point, MSU flexed its muscles as they scored three straight points to take a 12-9 lead. Following a kill by Brady that brought the Mocs within two points at 12-10, MSU would seal the win by scoring three of the set's final four points to take the match.
The Roadrunners were paced by 22 kills, five blocks and eight digs from Lauren Quijano, while Summer Greager added 14 kills, 10 digs and hit .281. Kylie Haun had 12 kills and 13 digs, while Hoagland chipped in with 10 kills and hit .409 in the win.
Defensively, Brusie led the way for the Mocs with a match-high 20 digs, while Skayhan added 16 digs to go with her 44 assists for her third double-double of the season.
The Mocs will conclude play in the Colorado Premier Challenge on Saturday, Sept. 13 as the Mocs face fifth-ranked Central Missouri (3-3) at 2 p.m. EDT at Metro State, before playing at Regis (4-2) at 9:30 p.m. EDT.
Here are the complete results from the first day of the Colorado Premier Challenge
Friday, Sept. 12
#10 Southwest Minnesota State 3, #2 Tampa 1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-16)
#4 BYU-Hawai'i 3, #5 Central Missouri 0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-20)
#1 Concordia-St. Paul 3, Florida Southern 2 (25-12, 23-25, 25-19, 21-25, 17-15)
#3 Minnesota-Duluth 3, @Regis 0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-15)
#10 Southwest Minnesota State 3, @Metro State 0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-23)
Colorado Mesa 3, #5 Central Missouri 0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-22)
#1 Concordia-St. Paul 3, #2 Tampa 0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-21)
#4 Minnesota-Duluth 3, #4 BYU-Hawai'i 0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-21)
@ Metro State 3, Florida Southern 2 (25-20, 26-24, 11-25, 24-26, 15-11)
@ Regis 3, vs. Colorado Mesa 2 (25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 23-25, 24-22)
Complete schedule for Saturday, Sept. 13 (All times are Eastern)
11:30 a.m. - #2 Tampa vs. #3 Minnesota-Duluth (@Metro State)
11:30 a.m. - Colorado Mesa vs. #10 Southwest Minnesota State (@Regis)
2 p.m. - Florida Southern vs. #5 Central Missouri (@Metro State)
2 p.m. - #1 Concordia-St. Paul vs. #4 BYU-Hawai'i (@Regis)
4:30 p.m. - Metro State vs. #3 Minnesota-Duluth (@Metro State)
4:30 p.m. - Regis vs. #10 Southwest Minnesota State (@Regis)
7 p.m. - #2 Tampa vs. #4 BYU-Hawai'i (@Metro State)
7 p.m. - Colorado Mesa vs. #1 Concordia-St. Paul (@Regis)
9:30 p.m. - Metro State vs. #5 Central Missouri (@Metro State)
9:30 p.m. - Regis vs. Florida Southern (@Regis)
Click here for the homepage of the 2014 Colorado Premier Challenge
