Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern dropped the first set here Tuesday evening to Rollins, but rallied to win the next three sets and post a four-set victory over the Tars (24-26, 25-19, 25-19, 25-21) in Sunshine State Conference action at Jenkins Field House.
With the win, the 17th-ranked Moccasins snap a two-match losing skid and improve to 18-5 overall and 5-4 in the SSC, while Rollins fell to 8-14 overall and 4-6 in the league. Tuesday's match opened the second half of SSC play for the Moccasins.
Tuesday's match was an evenly contested affair as it featured 27 ties and 11 lead changes, including 11 ties and five lead changes in the first set.
Both team's defenses were strong as Rollins held the Mocs to a .184 hitting percentage, while FSC held the Tars to an .096 attack percentage. It marked the 11th time this season FSC has held an opponent to a hitting percentage under .100. FSC is 11-0 in those matches when their opponents hit under .100 in a match.
FSC's offensive attack was paced by a career high night from freshman outside hitter Nicole Mattson (Oviedo, Fla.) as she finished with a career high 15 kills and added a career-high 21 digs for her first ever collegiate double-double. It marked the third time in the last four matches that Mattson set a new career high for kills. Prior to the 15 kill effort against Rollins, Mattson's previous career high in kills was 12, which was set last Friday at Barry. Mattson has now recorded double-digit kills in four straight matches since being inserted into the starting line-up.
In addition to Mattson, senior middle blocker Kayshia Brady (Welaka, Fla.) added 12 kills, hit .333 and had three blocks in the win, while sophomore outside hitter Anna Tovo (Aiken, S.C.) had 10 kills for the Mocs. With her 12 kills, Brady moved with 27 kills of becoming the 21st Moccasin to record 1,000 career kills.
Three other Mocs had six or more kills on the night as senior right side hitter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) had eight kills and added 17 digs, while freshman setter Bethany Besancenez (St. Louis, Mo.) posted career highs in both kills (7) and assists (47) and also added 14 digs for her sixth double-double of the season and hit .700 for the match and sophomore middle blocker Allie Geary (DeLand, Fla.) had six kills and hit .385.
After sharing the setter's role with senior Lauren Shlemon (Tampa, Fla.) in the first 22 matches, Besancenez was the team's primary setter in Tuesday's match.
Along with going exclusively at setter with Besancenez on Tuesday, the Mocs also moved junior Brindl Langley (Camas, Wash.) from outside hitter to libero as she finished the night with 22 digs in her new role. With her 22 digs, Langley moved within 16 digs of 16th place on the school's all-time dig chart as she has now recorded 1,081 career digs. Anna Niebuhr is 16th on the school's all-time digs chart as she recorded 1,097 digs as a Moccasin from 2008-11.
With Langley playing libero, the Mocs had two players finish with 20 or more digs for the match and had four players record 14 or more digs on the night. FSC finished with 87 digs for the match.
Neither team was able to much of an advantage in the opening part of the first set as there were ties at 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, before the Mocs used a 7-3 run to take a 12-8 lead following an ace by Langley. The Tars, though, would respond with 7-4 run to pull within 16-15. After a kill by Besancenez gave the Mocs a 17-15 lead, the Tars would score five of the next eight points to tie the set at 20. The teams would once again take turns trading the lead until Rollins scored the set's final two points after a Tars attack error tied the set at 24 to post a 26-24 win. In the set, Rollins hit .188 and FSC hit .175.
Rollins would take advantage of the momentum gained by winning the first set by opening the second set by scoring eight of the first 10 points to push out to an 8-2 lead. The Mocs, though, responded with a 10-3 run to take a 12-11 lead. The run was capped by an ace from redshirt sophomore defensive specialist Nicci Joyce (Farmington Hills, Mich.). The Tars would answer FSC's run by scoring three straight points to take a 14-12 lead. That lead was short-lived as the Mocs used a 9-2 scoring flurry aided by four Rollins errors to take a 21-16 lead. After a kill by Rachel Sawyer stopped the Mocs run, FSC would close out the set by scoring four of the final six points to seal its 25-19 win and tie the match at a set apiece. The Mocs hit .244 in the set and held Rollins to an .088 attack percentage.
In the third set, the Mocs used 10-3 run to turn a 5-all tie into a 15-8 lead. After three straight points by the Tars dropped FSC's lead to 15-11, the Mocs scored three of the next five points to push out to an 18-13 lead. The Tars, though, would respond by scoring four straight points to pull within 18-17. That would be as close as Rollins would get as the Mocs closed out the set by scoring seven of the final nine points to post a 25-19 win and take a 2-1 lead in the match. FSC hit .243 in the set and held Rollins to an .077 attack percentage.
Leading 2-1 in the match, the Mocs jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the fourth set and led 12-5 when Rollins used a 7-3 run to pull within 15-12. The Mocs would extend its lead back out to 20-13 thanks to a 5-1 run that was capped by an ace from Mattson. The Tars, though, responded with a 5-2 run to drop the Mocs lead to 22-18. FSC would then score two of the next four points to take a 24-20 lead, before an attack error by Marotti pushed Rollins within three points at 24-21. That would be as close as the Tars would get as Mattson slammed home her 15th and final kill of the night on set point to seal FSC's 25-21 win.
Rollins, who had its six match win streak snapped with Tuesday's loss, was paced offensively on the night by Shannon McDonough, who finished with 12 kills for the Tars. In addition to McDonough, Bri Civiero added nine kills and 13 digs, while Sawyer had eight kills and 12 digs.
The Tars defense, which entered the match leading the SSC in digs as they were averaging 17.26 per set, finished with 76 on the night. Rebecca Wilson paced the Tars defense with 21 digs.
Both teams recorded five total team blocks and the Mocs finished with a 6-3 edge in service aces.
FSC will look to make its two wins in a row this coming Friday as they travel to Davie, Fla., for a 7 p.m. match against Nova Southeastern, who fell to 14-9 overall and 5-5 in the SSC after its four set loss Tuesday at Barry. The Mocs collected a three set win over the Sharks in Lakeland on Sept. 26.
