Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern and Tampa added another chapter to its longstanding rivalry here Thursday evening as the 14th-ranked Moccasins pushed the No. 2 ranked Spartans to five sets (22-25, 23-25, 25-20, 26-24, 10-15), before falling just short against the defending Division II National Champions in Sunshine State Conference action at Jenkins Field House.
With the setback, the Mocs fall to 13-3 overall and 4-3 in the SSC and had their 10 match home winning streak snapped, while UT improved to 12-3 overall and 5-0 in the league and also extended its SSC win streak to 57 consecutive matches. The Spartans haven't lost an SSC match since falling in five sets to Eckerd on Oct. 28, 2008.
Thursday's match was the 119th all-time in the series between the two schools and the first five-set match in the series since the Moccasins' posted a five-set victory over the Spartans in Lakeland on Oct. 30, 2007. In fact, it was just the 17th time in the series that the match went five sets. FSC is now 9-8 all-time against UT in five set matches with Thursday's setback. Additionally, it was UT's first five set match in league play since the 2013 season.
"What a tremendous volleyball match tonight against two nationally ranked teams," Moccasin head coach Jill Stephens said following the match that lasted a little over two hours. "Tampa has a great team, but this match will give us a lot of confidence heading into next weekend's regional crossover event. I am just really proud of my kids for their effort and fight tonight."
Looking at the final statistics sheet, the match was an evenly played affair as UT had two more kills than the Mocs, 62-60, but the Mocs had two more blocks than the Spartans, 12-10 and both teams each had four aces and recorded 25 attack errors apiece. In addition, the Mocs had one more dig than the Spartans, 85-84. Both teams also hit almost identical for the match as FSC finished with a .199 attack percentage and the Spartans hit .206.
Thursday's match featured 41 ties and 11 lead changes, including 21 ties and six lead changes in the final two sets.
Trailing 2-0 in the match after losing the first set, 25-22 and the second set, 25-23, the Mocs hit .293 in the third set and recorded 16 kills and held UT to a .146 attack percentage en route to earning a 25-20 win. Sophomore outside hitter Anna Tovo (Aiken, S.C.) and senior middle blocker Kayshia Brady (Welaka, Fla.) combined for 11 of FSC's 16 kills in the set as Tovo had six and Brady added five of her nine on the night.
"I think if we could've limited our errors in those first two sets we would've had a shot at winning," said Stephens. "The way we came out and played in sets three and four...they responded really well."
FSC's struggles in the opening two sets could be attributed to errors as they combined to commit a total of 12 attack errors and have five service errors and combined to hit .171. On the other side of the net, UT had just nine attack errors and hit a combined .226 in the first two sets.
In the fourth set, UT jumped out to a 6-3 lead and led 8-7 when the Mocs used 7-5 run to take a 14-13 lead. After back-to-back errors by both teams made the score 15-14, the Mocs used 6-5 run to take a 21-19 lead. The Spartans, though, scored two straight points to tie the set at 21. The teams would then take turns trading point until the Mocs used back-to-back kills to turn a 24-all tie into a 26-24 win to force a fifth and deciding set. In the set, the Mocs hit .256, while UT hit .227.
The Mocs grabbed the momentum early in the fifth set as they held two point leads at 4-2, 5-3, 6-4 and 7-5, but could never increase its lead as the Spartans scored three straight points to take an 8-7 lead. The run was capped by back-to-back assisted blocks by Marissa Lisenbee and Katarina Milojevic. After a UT service error retied the set at 8, the Spartans used a 6-1 run to push its lead to 14-9. The run was aided by four consecutive Moccasin errors. FSC would then use a kill from senior right side hitter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) to pull within 14-10, but UT sealed the win with a kill from Jessica Wagner. After hitting over .200 in the previous two sets, the Mocs hit .000 in the fifth set, while UT hit .200.
"I thought UT made some good adjustments," the Moccasin coach stated when asked if her team got nervous in the middle of the fifth set.
FSC's offensive attack was paced by a career high 20 kills from Tovo, while Marotti tied her career high with 16 kills and a .342 attack percentage. The 16 kills tied the career high Marotti had set in her last outing on Tuesday against Florida Tech.
Along with Tovo and Marotti, Brady added nine kills and sophomore middle blocker Allie Geary (DeLand, Fla.) had eight kills on the night.
The Mocs defense had three players record double-digits in digs led by redshirt sophomore libero Nicci Joyce (Farmington Hills, Mich.) finishing with 20 on the night. In addition to Joyce, junior outside hitter Brindl Langley (Camas, Wash.) and Tovo each posted 17 digs. With her 17 digs and 20 kills, Tovo posted her team leading seventh double-double of the season.
On the blocking front, Brady and junior middle blocker Rachel Mostert (Clearwater, Fla.) each had five, while Marotti and Geary added four blocks.
Freshman setter Bethany Besancenez (St. Louis, Mo.) and senior setter Lauren Shlemon (Tampa, Fla.) each came one dig shy of double-doubles as Besancenez had 31 assists and nine digs and Shlemon recorded 22 assists and nine digs in the match.
Berkley Whaley, who was the Division II National Player of the Year last season, paced the Spartans attack with a double-double of 20 kills and 14 digs. Lisenbee added 15 kills and Wagner had 13 kills and hit .435 to help the Spartans to its seventh consecutive win on the season and its 17th straight victory over the Mocs.
UT's defense was was paced by 24 digs from Logan Holanchock, while Gina Clarke added 15 digs and 52 assists and Milojevic recorded seven blocks on the night.
The Mocs will now take eight days off before returning to the court next weekend (Oct. 16-17) as they travel to Carrollton, Ga., to compete in the South Regional Crossover hosted by the University of West Georgia. The schedule of matches for the crossover will be determined later this weekend and will be based on a team's position in their respective conference standings.
