Box Score LAKELAND - Florida Southern celebrated its 40th Year of Moccasin Volleyball here Saturday afternoon by posting a hard fought three-set Sunshine State Conference sweep over Nova Southeastern (25-21, 25-20, 25-18) at Jenkins Field House.
FSC played its first ever intercollegiate volleyball match on Sept. 29, 1976 as they posted a 15-5, 15-3 win over Seminole Junior College and since that first match, the Moccasin program has become one of the top volleyball programs in Division II. Saturday's match was the program's 1,540th all-time match and its 1,096th all-time victory. FSC has compiled a 1,096-444 all-time record.
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During the intermission between the second and third sets on Saturday, the Mocs honored and recognized the 40 some former players and coaches that returned to campus this weekend to celebrate 40 Years of Moccasin Volleyball.
"What a tremendous weekend for our volleyball program. To have our alumni here to celebrate 40 years and then to go out and play well and get a win, I know that makes them proud," said Moccasin head coach Jill Stephens, who played for the Mocs from 1991-94 and is one of the program's 27 all-time All-Americans.
With Saturday's victory, the ninth-ranked Moccasins improved to 12-0 overall and 3-0 in the SSC, while Nova Southeastern fell to 10-2 overall and 3-1 in the SSC.
The 12-0 start to the season for the Mocs is the best for the program in 25 years as the 1990 squad coached by Lois Webb started the season 32-0 en route to finishing with a 41-3 overall record and an appearance in the NCAA Division II National quarterfinals. The 12-0 start is just the third in school history.
"I thought we really performed well tonight," Stephens added. "NSU came in here playing well, but we were able to play consistent volleyball throughout the match. It was a good win for us."
One night after hitting just .200 in its three-set sweep over Lynn, the Moccasin offense hit .280 against the Sharks, including hitting .333 in its 25-21 win in the first set. It is the seventh time this season the Mocs have hit over .250 in a match.
Along with hitting .280 as a team, the Mocs got double-digit kill efforts from three players and had two of those players record double-doubles in extending its win streak in three set matches to 23 straight dating to last season.
"We have been able to get a lot of contributions from different players this season and tonight was no different," the Mocs coach said following her team's ninth straight home win.
Leading the way for the Mocs on Saturday were senior right side hitter Kendall Marotti (LaBelle, Fla.) and sophomore outside hitter Anna Tovo (Aiken, S.C.) as those two combined for 29 of FSC's 51 kills and had 23 of the Mocs 51 digs in the win.
Marotti finished with 15 kills and 12 digs for her second double-double of the season and 25th of her career, while Tovo had 14 kills and 11 digs for her team leading four double-double of the year. In addition to the double-doubles, Marotti hit .400 and Tovo hit .462 for the match.
The third Moccasin that recorded double-digt kills was senior middle blocker Kayshia Brady as she finished with 11 and hit a team best .579 in the win. Brady has now hit over .300 in nine of the Mocs 12 matches this season.
Junior outside hitter Brindl Langley (Camas, Wash.) finished with six kills and 10 digs, while redshirt sophomore libero Nicci Joyce (Farmington Hills, Mich.) added seven digs and had an ace in the win.
The Mocs offense was directed by both freshman setter Bethany Besancenez (St. Louis, Mo.) and senior setter Lauren Shlemon (Tampa, Fla.). Besancenez finished with 22 assists and five digs and Shlemon recorded 21 assists, two aces and five digs for the match.
Saturday's match featured 15 ties and seven lead changes, including eight ties and four lead changes in the first set.
The Mocs jumped out to a 14-10 lead in the opening set, but NSU would respond with a 4-1 run to pull within 15-14. FSC would answer with a 9-3 run keyed by three kills from Langley to push out to a 24-17 edge. The Sharks, though, wouldn't go away as they scroed four straight points to pull within 24-21, but could get no closer as the Tovo sealed the 25-21 set win with her fifth kill of the set.
Much like the first set, the second set was another back-and-forth tilt as the Mocs jumped out to a 6-3 lead and led 11-9 when the Sharks scored four of the next six points to tie the set at 13. Back-to-back kills from Tovo keyed a 6-2 Moccasin run to give FSC a 19-15 lead. After NSU used a 5-3 run to pull within 22-20, the Mocs closed the set by scoring the final three points, including capping the 25-20 win with a kill from Brady, who had four of her 11 kills in the set.
The third set belonged to the Mocs after the two teams traded points to open the set, the Mocs used a 9-3 run to push out to a 10-4 lead. The Sharks, who had its six-match win streak snapped with Saturday's loss, wouldn't go away as they answered FSC's run with an 8-4 spree of their own to pull within 14-12. That would be as close as the Sharks would get as the Mocs closed out the set on an 11-6 run to post the 25-18 set win and seal its eighth three-set victory of the year.
NSU was paced by a 10 kill, three block effort from Dana Holger, while Katie Pyles added seven kills, 21 assists and six digs in the loss. Caitlin Donahue and Denvyr Tyler-Palmer each finished with six kills for the Sharks.
The Sharks did manage to hit become the first team this season to hit over .200 against the Mocs as they finished the match with a .215 attack percentage. The Mocs entered the match sitting third in Division II in opponents hitting percentage (.047) as they had held its previous 11 foes to an under .200 attack percentage.
FSC also finished the match with six aces and five total team blocks, while NSU was held without an ace and had six total team blocks.
The Mocs will put its 12 match win streak on the line this coming weekend as they play back-to-back matches on the road starting first next Friday, Oct. 2 in St. Petersburg against Eckerd at 7 p.m. and then traveling to Saint Leo for a 4 p.m. match on Saturday, Oct. 3.
