Box Score MIAMI SHORES - Florida Southern's struggles on the road in Sunshine State Conference play continued here Friday evening as the 15th-ranked Moccasins suffered a four-set loss to Barry (20-25, 23-25, 25-19, 18-15) at the Health & Sports Center on the Barry University campus.
With the setback, the Mocs have now dropped three straight SSC matches on the road and fall to 17-4 overall on the season and 4-4 in the SSC, while Barry improved to 9-7 overall and 4-3 in the SSC.
The Mocs offense was held in check most of the night as they hit a season low .122 as they finished with just 35 kills and 18 errors on 139 attack attempts. FSC entered the match third in the SSC in hitting percentage on the season at .241.
Meanwhile, Barry's offense hit .224 for the match and recorded 54 kills.
Freshman outside hitter Nicole Mattson (Oviedo, Fla.) continued her strong play as after recording a career high 11 kills in her last outing against Embry-Riddle, she bettered that mark by one kill on Friday against the Buccaneers as she finished with a team high 12 kills and hit a team best .357. In fact, Mattson was the only Moccasin to record double-digit kills and hit over .200 for the match.
In addition to Mattson, sophomore outside hitter Anna Tovo (Aiken, S.C.) added eight kills, while sophomore middle blocker Allie Geary (DeLand, Fla.) and senior right side hitter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) each had five kills and combined for 14 digs and four blocks as Geary had five digs and four blocks and Marotti had nine digs and a block.
The Mocs defense and its serving kept them in Friday's match as they finished with seven aces, including four aces from junior outside hitter Brindl Langley (Camas, Wash.) and added eight team blocks and 57 digs. Along with the four aces, Langley also led the Mocs with a team high 10 digs, while Marotti and senior setter Lauren Shlemon (Tampa, Fla.) each had nine digs.
FSC jumped out to a 4-1 lead and led 5-3 in the first set when the Bucs used a 10-5 run to push out to a 13-10 lead. After a kill by senior middle blocker Kayshia Brady (Welaka, Fla.) brought the Mocs within 13-11, Barry responded with a 7-4 run to push its lead to 20-15. The Mocs would score four of the next five points to pull within 21-19, the Bucs closed the set by scoring four of the final five points to seal its 25-20 win. Barry hit .333 in the set and the Mocs were held to an .088 attack percentage.
The second set was a back-and-forth affair as it featured 15 ties and four lead changes. In the set, Barry jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but the Mocs used a 7-3 run to take an 8-7 lead. BU, though, would use a 4-1 run to take a 12-10 lead, but the lead was shortlived as FSC used a 6-3 run to take a 16-15 lead. The run was capped by a Mattson kill. The Bucs would answer with a 5-2 run to take a 20-18 lead. The Mocs wouldn't go away as they would score four of the next six points to tie the set at 22. Barry would respond by scoring three of the final four points to earn a 25-23 win. In the set, the Mocs hit .158 and Barry hit .257.
Trailing 2-0 in the match, the Mocs jumped out to a 6-3 lead in the third set, before Barry scored three of the next four points to tie the set at 7. The Mocs would expand its lead to 12-10, but the Bucs would score two straight points to tie the set at 12. After another tie at 15, the Mocs used a 6-0 run capped by an ace by Tovo to push out to a 21-15 lead. After a Moccasin error brought Barry within 21-16, the Mocs would close the set by scoring four of the final seven points to seal its 25-19 win.
FSC would use the momentum gained by winning the third set to score the first three points of the fourth set to take a 3-0 lead, before Barry responded with a 9-0 run to take a 9-3 lead. The Bucs run was keyed by three aces from Jasmine Serna, who had four of Barry's 10 aces in the match. The Mocs would score four of the next five points to pull within 10-7, but Barry answered with a 9-5 run to push out to a 19-12 edge. After back-to-back errors by the Bucs brought the Mocs within 19-14, Barry would score three straight points to take a 22-14 lead. The Mocs wouldn't go away without a fight as they scored four of the next five points to pull within 23-18. The run was capped by back-to-back kills from Tovo and Mattson. The Bucs, though, would score the set's final two points, including capping the 25-18 win with an ace from Ivana Didanovic. The Mocs hit .062 in the set and Barry recorded a .167 attack percentage.
Barry was paced by Kaitlin Drake, who finished with 20 kills and a .333 attack percentage. In addition to Drake, Didanovic added 14 kills, seven blocks and hit .345, while Eva Raat had 10 kills in the win.
Along with her four aces, Serna added a double-double of 27 assists and 21 digs, while Brittany Jaco had 16 digs and Kat Espinosa added 13 digs on defense for the Bucs, who finished with 71 digs and nine team blocks in the victory.
FSC will attempt to return to the win column on Saturday afternoon as they conclude its two-match road swing in South Florida with a 4 p.m. match at 17th-ranked Palm Beach Atlantic, who is 17-3 on the season and has won seven straight matches after earning a three-set home win Friday over Florida Tech.
