Box Score MELBOURNE - Florida Southern returned to the road here Tuesday night in Sunshine State Conference action by suffering a close four-set defeat to Florida Tech (23-25, 25-23, 21-25, 22-25) at the Clemente Center on the Florida Tech campus.
With the setback, the 17th-ranked Moccasins fell to 21-7 overall and 8-6 in the SSC, while Florida Tech improved to 13-13 overall and 4-10 in the league standings.
On Tuesday, sophomore outside hitter Anna Tovo (Aiken, S.C.) led the Mocs offense with a match-high 22 kills and added 12 kills for her fifth consecutive double-double and her team best 15th of the season.
Along with Tovo, senior middle blocker Kayshia Brady (Welaka, Fla.) had 14 kills and hit a team-best .393, while senior right side hitter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) had 12 kills and added 15 digs for her fifth double-double of the season and freshman outside hitter Nicole Mattson (Oviedo, Fla.) had 10 kills in the loss.
In Tuesday's match, the Mocs recorded 11 more kills than Tech (63-52), but committed 13 more attack errors as FSC finished with 27 attack errors, including committing 17 of those over the final two sets. Florida Tech had 14 attack errors, including just seven over the final two sets. In addition, FSC had 12 service errors to just two service errors by the Panthers.
That plus-13 edge in attack errors and plus-10 edge in service errors by the Panthers proved to the difference in a match that featured 27 ties and 11 lead changes.
Defensively, the Mocs had 68 digs on the night as Marotti and junior libero Brindl Langley (Camas, Wash.) each had 15, while Tovo and freshman setter Bethany Besancenez (St. Louis, Mo.) both had 12 digs and Besancenez added 58 assists for her sixth consecutive double-double and 11th of the year.
The Mocs jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the opening set and led 13-10 when the Panthers used a 7-1 run to take a 17-14 lead. Tech's lead would expand to 22-18, before the Mocs scored five of its next seven points to pull within 24-23. That would be as close as FSC would get, though, as the Panthers sealed the 25-23 win on a kill by Jenna Schaffer. In the set, both teams hit over .300 as FSC hit .317 and Tech hit .314.
In the second set, neither team would gain much of an advantage early on until Tech used a 7-4 run to take a 15-12 lead. The Mocs, though, would respond with an 8-5 run to tie the set at 20. The run was capped by three straight kills from Mattson. The teams would then take turns holding the lead until the Mocs scored the final three points of the set, including back-to-back set errors by the Panthers to cap the 25-23 win and tie the match at a set apiece.
FSC appeared poised to gain the upper hand in the third set as they scored the first two points and led 14-10 when Florida Tech used an 8-1 run to take an 18-15 lead. After a kill by Brady stopped the Panthers run, FIT would use a 6-3 run to take a 24-19 lead. Two kills from Marotti sandwiched around a Tovo service error pushed the Mocs within 24-21, but FIT would seal its 25-21 win on a kill by Kim Juriga. In the set, FIT hit .257 and FSC hit .075.
The fourth set was another close affair as it featured nine tied and five lead changes. In the set, FIT jumped out to a 7-3 lead and led 10-5 when the Mocs used a 9-2 run to take a 14-12 lead. The run was keyed with three kills each from Marotti and Tovo. FIT would respond with a 5-1 run to take a 17-15 lead, before FSC answered with a 4-1 run to take a 19-18 lead. The Panthers, though, responded with a 5-2 run to take a 23-21 edge. After a kill by Marotti brought the Mocs within a point at 23-22, FIT would score the final two points to seal its 25-22 win. Tovo had eight of her 22 kills in the fourth set.
Florida Tech was paced by 15 kills and a .542 attack percentage from Juriga, while Alea Hamm added nine kills and four blocks and Olivia Hersey had six kills and four blocks, including two solo blocks in the win. Becca Bower and Schaffer paced the Panthers defense with 24 and 15 digs respectively.
The Panthers outblocked the Mocs on the night, 9-5.
FSC will look to return to the win column this coming Saturday, Nov. 14 as they close out the road portion of its 2015 schedule with a 2 p.m. match at eighth-ranked Tampa (22-5 overall, 11-1 SSC). The Spartans earned a hard-fought five-set victory over the Mocs in Lakeland on Oct. 8.
