Box Score LAKELAND - Playing at home for the first time in nearly two weeks, Florida Southern used a strong defensive effort and took advantage of 38 Lynn errors in its three-set victory over the Fighting Knights (25-17, 25-16, 25-13) in Sunshine State Conference action at Jenkins Field House.
With the victory, the ninth-ranked Moccasins improved to 11-0 overall and 2-0 in the SSC, while Lynn fell to 5-4 overall and 0-2 in the league.
The 11-0 start to the season is the fourth in school history and the first since the 1990 squad coached by Lois Webb opened the year by winning its first 32 matches en route to finishing the season with a 41-3 record and an NCAA Division II National quarterfinal appearance.
In Friday's match, the Mocs victory was aided by its defense as they limited Lynn to a season low -.072 attack percentage as the Fighting Knights committed 25 attack errors and were held to a season low 19 kills. In addition, the Mocs, who are third nationally in Division II in opponents hitting percentage (.056), also recorded nine team blocks in the victory that extended its home court win streak to eight straight matches dating to last season.
The Mocs needed its defense in Friday's victory as its offense hit just .200 for the night, but that number was aided thanks to a .417 attack percentage in the third set. Prior to the third set, the Mocs offense had hit just .127 for the match. FSC entered the game second in the SSC and 11th nationally in hitting percentage on the season (.254).
FSC's offense was paced by nine kills and a .400 attack percentage from senior right side hitter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.). In addition to Marotti, senior middle blocker Kayshia Brady (Welaka, Fla.) added seven kills and sophomore outside hitter Anna Tovo (Aiken, S.C.) had six kills on the night. Those three players combined for 22 of FSC's 34 kills in the match.
The Mocs finished with just 34 kills and gave the Fighting Knights 27 points thanks to its 11 service errors, 15 attack errors and one ball handling miscue on the night, while Lynn gave the Mocs 36 points as along with their 25 attack errors, they also had eight service errors and three ball handling errors.
FSC's defense effort was led by nine digs from redshirt sophomore libero Nicci Joyce (Farmington Hills, Mich.), while junior outside hitter Brindl Langley (Camas, Wash.) had seven digs and Tovo added six as FSC had 37 digs for the match. Additionally, Marotti recorded five blocks, while Brady and sophomore middle blocker Allie Geary (DeLand, Fla.) each had three blocks in the win. Tovo chipped in with a career-high tying two solo blocks.
The Fighting Knights jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in the opening set, before the Mocs responded with a 9-5 run to take a 10-8 lead. After LU stopped the run with a kill by Cleuza Porto, the Mocs used a 14-8 run to push out to a 24-16 advantage. The run was aided by eight Lynn errors and capped by a kill from Geary. After a service error by Langley on set point dropped FSC's lead to 24-17, the Mocs sealed the 25-17 win with a kill from Marotti, who had four of her match high nine kills in the set.
In the second set, the Mocs jumped out to a 6-3 lead, before LU answered with a 5-3 run to pull within 9-8. That would be as close as the Fighting Knights would get as FSC answered with a 7-0 run to extend its lead to 16-8 and after a kill from Claire Angelich stopped the Moccasin run, FSC used use an 8-5 run to push its lead to 24-14. After back-to-back errors from the Mocs brought LU within 24-16, FSC closed out the 25-16 set win on a service error by LU's Melissa Tandron.
The third and final set belonged to the Mocs they scored the first three points and eventually pushed its lead to 16-6. After the Fighting Knights used a 3-1 run to pull within 17-9, the Mocs would respond by scoring eight of the set's final 12 points to seal its 25-13 win and earn its 22 consecutive 3-set victory. FSC hasn't lost a three-set match since falling to Regis in its final match of last season's Colorado Premier Challenge.
Lynn, who dropped its third straight match, was paced on the night by Nicol Colonna as she finished with seven kills and 11 digs, while Porto added six kills in the loss.
The Mocs held Lydia West to just two kills and a -.333 hitting percentage and Angelich to just one kill and a -.300 attack percentage. West entered the match with a team leading 77 kills and was fifth in the SSC in hitting percentage (.333) and Angelich came into Friday's match second in the SSC in attack percentage (.387).
FSC, who is celebrating its 40th year of intercollegiate volleyball this weekend, will conclude the homestand with a 4 p.m. match on Saturday against Nova Southeastern. The Sharks improved to 10-1 overall and 3-0 in the SSC following its five-set victory on Friday at Florida Tech. The victory extended NSU's win streak to six consecutive matches since falling in three sets at USC Aiken on Sept. 11.
