Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern rallied after dropping the first two sets to record a 19-25, 16-25, 25-22, 25-14, 16-14 win over Eckerd in Sunshine State Conference volleyball action here Saturday at Jenkins Field House.
Kayshia Brady and Anna Tovo helped stave off the Tritons with four kills each in the third set while Nicole Mattson sparked the win in the fourth set with six kills. It was Mattson again with six kills in the deciding fifth set.
In the fifth set, Eckerd (13-13, 4-9 SSC) jumped out to a 6-3 leading after a pair of kills by Tjasa Kotnik. The 19th-ranked Moccasins (21-6, 8-5 SSC) then put together a 7-3 run behind two kills each by Mattson and Anna Tovo to take a 10-9 lead. The two teams were then tied four times. Another Mattson kill put the Mocs within one point of winning the match, but the Tritons got another kill from Kotnik to knot the score at 14-14. Mattson then got a kill for the 15th point and Brady registered the winning kill for the five-set victory.
Eckerd controlled the first two sets, out-hitting Florida Southern .333 to .143 in set one and .222 to .086 in set two. In the first set, the Tritons got off to a fast 8-3 lead with the Mocs coming back to trail by one point, at 12-11, but could not overcome Tritons.
In set two, it was the Mocs with the early lead, 7-5, before Eckerd put together an 5-1 run that the Mocs would not recover from.
In the third set, Eckerd took a 7-4 lead, but the Mocs would come back to knot the set at 10-10. The score would be tied six more times and the two teams would exchange leads six times before Florida Southern jumped out to a 21-17 lead on the serving of Kendall Marotti and then going on to win 25-22.
In the fourth set, the Mocs put together mini runs behind the serving of Brindl Langley to lead 12-9, by Tovo for a 17-12 margin, and Marotti a 24-14 lead before she closed out the set with a kill for the deciding point in the 25-14 win.
For the match, Mattson and Tovo each tied with 17 kills while Brady added 12. Mattson added 13 digs and Tovo, 14, to give both players a double-double. Setter Bethany Besancenez was also in double figures in a pair of categories with 59 assists and 14 digs. Langley led the Mocs with 41 digs while Marrotti recorded 20 of her own. The 41 digs by Langley were two shy of the FSC record of 43 set by Courtney Veasey at Tampa on Oct. 20, 2004.The double-doubles were the 14th of Tovo's season; the 10 for Besancenez; and the fourth for Mattson.
Eckerd was led by Kotnik's game-high 19 kills while adding 22 digs and JaQuayla Baker's 14 kills.
Both teams reached triple digits in digs with the Mocs coming out on the high end, 106 to 100. The 106 kills by Florida Southern is three shy of the season-high of 109 set in a four-set win on Sept. 19 vs. Embry-Riddle.
Florida Southern returns to action on the road Tuesday at 7 p.m. with a conference match at Florida Southern before playing at No. 5 ranked Tampa on Saturday at 2 p.m.
