Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern showed some heart and determination here Friday evening in the decisive fifth set after Saint Leo earned a 25-20 win in the fourth set to post a hard-fought five-set victory over the Lions (25-27, 25-22, 25-19, 20-25, 15-10) in Sunshine State Conference action at Jenkins Field House.
With the victory, the 19th-ranked Moccasins avenged a three-set defeat earlier this season by the Lions and also helped the Mocs achieve its fourth consecutive 20 win campaign and its 34th all-time 20 win season. FSC is now 20-6 overall and 7-5 in the SSC.
"What a really good volleyball match tonight. Both teams played well offensively," Moccasin head coach Jill Stephens said following the match that lasted nearly two-and-half hours. "They (SLU) were tough to stop, but I thought we showed a lot of composure and never quit, especially in that fifth set."
Along with earning the victory, senior middle blocker Kayshia Brady (Welaka, Fla.) set a career milestone in the match as she became the 21st Moccasin to record 1,000 career kills. She achieved her milestone kill late in the third set to give the Mocs a 23-18 lead. Brady finished the night with 18 kills and added seven blocks. Brady entered Friday's match needing 13 kills to join the 1,000 Kill Club. She has now recorded 1,005 kills in her four year career.
"What an outstanding accomplishment for Kayshia to record 1,000 kills in a career," said Stephens, who recorded 1,691 kills as a Moccasin from 1991-94 and is third on the school's all-time kill chart.
"It feels great to be able to achieve a goal that not many players have been able to achieve, but more important, I was glad our team was able to get a win tonight," Brady said when asked about recording her 1,000th kill.
Brady was one of three Mocs to finish with double-digit kills as sophomore outside hitter Anna Tovo (Aiken, S.C.) had a match high 23 and added 17 digs for her team best 13th double-double of the season, while freshman outside hitter Nicole Mattson (Oviedo, Fla.) added 13 kills and 10 digs for her third career double-double. Tovo had 13 of her 23 kills over the final three sets, including five in the fifth and deciding set.
After watching Saint Leo (17-9, 8-5 SSC) jump out to a 5-2 lead in the fifth set, the Mocs rallied to score six of the next nine points to tie the set at 8-all following a kill by Tovo. After Hope Lemon and Ashlee Hodgskin recorded back-to-back kills to give SLU a 10-8 lead, the Mocs would respond by scoring the final seven points, including sealing the 15-10 fifth set win on an ace by junior libero Brindl Langley (Camas, Wash.), who had two of FSC's seven aces for the match.
"Brindl made some tremendous plays in that fifth set," the Moc coach added. "We showed a lot of heart tonight."
In the fifth set, both teams hit over .200 as SLU hit .222 and the Mocs hit .320 as Tovo and Brady combined for eight of FSC's 10 kills.
For the match, both teams hit over .250 as the Mocs recorded a season high 70 kills and hit .263, while SLU had 67 kills and hit .257, including hitting .452 in the second set, a set they lost 25-22. FSC hit .372 in the second set.
Three Mocs hit over .300 for match as Tovo led the way with a .367 percentage as she had 23 kills and just five errors on 49 attack attempts, while Brady hit .325 with 18 kills and five errors on 40 attack attempts and sophomore middle blocker Allie Geary (DeLand, Fla.) hit .312 as she had six kills and one error on 16 attack attempts.
SLU was paced offensively by a 20 kill night from Lemon, while Anna Siruckova added 16 kills and Jillian Stolzenburg had 11 kills and hit .524 in the loss.
The Mocs jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the first set, but couldn't sustain the lead as SLU rallied to score five straight points to tie the set at 10. The Mocs would once again push out to a 17-15 lead, before SLU answered with an 8-3 run to take a 23-20 lead. FSC, though, wouldn't go away as they used a 5-1 run, including capping the run with an ace from Mattson and a kill from Tovo, to take a 25-24 lead. The Lions would hang on and score the final three points of the set to earn a 27-25 win.
It appeared early on the second set that the Lions would take a 2-0 lead in the match as they jumped out to an 11-6 lead and led 13-9 when the Mocs used a 5-2 run to pull within 15-14. SLU's lead would grow once again to 19-15, before the Mocs used a 4-1 run to move within a point at 20-19. After two kills from Britt Sederholm sandwiched around a kill by Brady gave SLU a 22-20 lead, the Mocs would close out the set by scoring the final five points, including capping the 25-22 win with an ace from freshman setter Bethany Besancenez (St. Louis, Mo.), who also had two aces for the match.
The third set belonged to the Mocs as they jumped out to a 9-4 lead and led 13-7 when the Lions rallied to score eight of the next 13 points to pull within 18-15. That would be as close as SLU would get a the Mocs used a 7-4 run to post a 25-19 win and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Trailing 2-1 in the match, SLU, who entered Friday's match in second place in the SSC standings, jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the fourth set. The Mocs, though, responded with a 7-3 run capped by three straight Lion errors to pull within 13-12. SLU wouldn't go away as they answered the Mocs run with a 6-2 run of their own to push out to a 19-14 advantage. After back-to-back attack errors pushed the Mocs within three points at 19-16, the Lions would score six of the set's final 10 points to earn a 25-20 win and force fifth set.
The Mocs defense finished with 83 digs and had outblocked SLU, 10-7.
Leading the way defensively for the Mocs was Tovo and Besancenez (St. Louis, Mo.) as they each had 17 digs, while Langley and senior right side hitter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) each had 16 digs. Besancenez also recorded a career high 58 assists for her fifth consecutive and ninth double-double of the season.
SLU had 89 digs as Jamee Townsend finished with 24 and Sederholm added 17 digs.
The Mocs will have little time to savor Friday's victory as they remain at home to host Eckerd (13-12, 4-8 SSC) in a 4 p.m. match on Saturday, Nov. 7. The Tritons, who lost its third straight match Friday night as they fell in four sets at Florida Tech, earned a four-set win over the Mocs in St. Petersburg on Oct. 2.
