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Box Score 2 LAKELAND - Florida Southern opened up play here Friday in its annual Terrace Hotel Classic at Jenkins Field House by picking up two victories to improve to 6-0 on the season. Friday's matches were the first of the season at home for the Moccasins as they opened its 2015 campaign last weekend in Waltham, Mass., at the Bentley Volleyball Invitational.
The 11th-ranked Mocs opened play in the two-day Terrace Hotel Classic by posting a three-set victory over Merrimack (25-11, 25-8, 25-12) and then earned a hard-fought four-set victory over previously undefeated Central Oklahoma (25-18, 22-25, 25-17, 25-18) to close out the first day of action in the event.
"It was two good wins for us today. I was really proud of our defense, especially against Central Oklahoma," Moccasins head coach Jill Stephens said following the win over UCO. "UCO was a really strong offensive team that came in hitting over .300 on the season.
"We were very good at controlling the first contact today."
The 6-0 start to the season is the best for the Moccasins since opening the 2004 campaign with an 8-0 record en route to posting a 28-9 record and an appearance in the South Regional Tournament semifinals.
Against UCO (6-1), the Mocs defense held the Bronchos, who earned 101 votes in this week's AVCA Division II Top 25 Poll, to a season low .099 attack percentage and forced them into 24 attack errors for the match.
While its defense was strong against UCO, the Moccasins' offense was also effective in the win despite being held to a season low .242 attack percentage. The Mocs hit over .275 in two of the four sets, including hitting .381 in the opening set and had four players record double digit kills on the night.
Leading the way was sophomore outside hitter Anna Tovo (Aiken, S.C.) as she had a match-high 15 kills and added nine digs, while senior right side hitter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) and senior middle blocker Kayshia Brady (Welaka, Fla.) each had 13 kills and sophomore middle blocker Allie Geary (DeLand, Fla.) tied her career high with 11 kills and hit .500 in the victory.
The Mocs defense was paced by 16 digs apiece from Marotti, who recorded her first double-double of the season and 24th of her career and junior outside hitter Brindl Langley (Camas, Wash.), while redshirt sophomore libero Nicci Joyce (Farmington Hills, Mich.) added 11 digs. FSC recorded a season high 71 digs in the match.
"I thought Brindl and Kendall did an outstanding job on defense," the Moccasin coach added.
UCO was paced on the night by nine kills from Allison Barr, while Jordan Spence and Barbara Jackson added eight kills and Taylor Bevis had seven kills and nine digs in the loss.
Jackson, who had 18 kills earlier in the day on Friday against Saint Leo, came into this weekend's action averaging 4.06 kills per set and hitting .309 on the year. Against FSC, she hit .061 to go along with her eight kills.
"No. 10 (Barbara Johnson) is a special player and I thought we did a good job keeping her in check," said Stephens. Jackson was a First-Team AVCA Division II All-American and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) Player of the Year as a junior in 2014.
Along with recording a season high 71 digs, the Mocs also had a total of team blocks, including two apeice from Tovo, Brady and Marotti. Both of Tovo's were solo blocks to set a new career high.
UCO did manage to outdig the Mocs, 75-71 as Whitney Gifford recorded a match-high 20 digs and Bonnie Vernon added 18.
In the second set, the only one the Mocs dropped Friday, they hit .070 as a team as they had 12 kills and nine of its 22 attack errors.
Freshman setter Bethany Besancenez (St. Louis, Mo.) and senior setter Lauren Shlemon (Tampa, Fla.) combined for 55 of FSC's season high 57 assists against the Bronchos. Besancenez recorded a career-high 30 assists and Shlemon added a career-high 25 in the win.
Meanwhile, in the first match of the Terrace Hotel Classic against Merrimack (1-2), the Mocs offense hit a season high .378 in recording its fourth three-set sweep of the young season.
Against the Warriors, Brady led a balanced Moccasin offensive attack with eight kills, three blocks and hit .500, while Langley added seven kills and 10 digs and Geary had six kills, six blocks and hit .600 in the victory. For the match, seven Mocs recorded at least three kills.
While its offense was very efficient, its defense was also strong against the Warriors, who are from the Northeast-10 Conference, as they held Merrimack to a -.161 hitting percentage for the match and had a season high nine blocks, including a season high four solo blocks, three of which came from Geary.
It marked the second time this season the Mocs had held an opponent to a minus hitting percentage as they also limited Bentley, who is also a member of the Northeast-10 Conference, to a -.110 attack percentage in last Friday's season opening match.
Sofia Basauri led the way for Merrimack in the match with five kills and added six digs, while Madison Burke had a match high 11 digs in the loss.
Merrimack finished the match with just 11 kills and had 25 attack errors. 18 of the Warriors' 32 points in the match came off of Moccasin errors as they committed 12 service errors and six attack errors in the 58-minute match.
FSC will conclude play in the Terrace Hotel Classic on Saturday, Sept. 12 as they face Armstrong State (2-3) at 2:30 p.m. and then conclude the event at 7:30 p.m. against 24th-ranked West Texas A&M (4-2).
Complete Day One results of 2015 FSC/Terrace Hotel Classic
#24 West Texas A&M 3, Armstrong State 1 (25-21, 25-18, 13-25, 27-25)
Central Oklahoma 3, Saint Leo 0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-21)
#11 Florida Southern 3, Merrimack 0 (25-11, 25-8, 25-12)
Saint Leo 3, #24 West Texas A&M 1 (25-19, 25-19, 25-27, 25-17)
Armstrong State 3, Merrimack 0 (25-13, 25-19, 25-16)
#11 Florida Southern 3, Central Oklahoma 1 (25-18, 22-25, 25-17, 25-18)
