Box Score SAINT LEO, FL - Florida Southern College volleyball fell to Sunshine State Conference rival Saint Leo by a 3-0 final on Tuesday night at the Bowman Center. The No. 24 Moccasins (14-6, 6-3 SSC) struggled to find an offensive rhythm as the Lions (14-8, 7-2) finished with seven blocks and held Florida Southern to its lowest attack percentage of the year (.088).
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Saint Leo jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the first set, and looked like it might run away with things as it built a 17-10 lead. However, Florida Southern would use a 14-6 to storm back and grab a 24-23 lead. The Lions were able to weather the storm, and scored three-straight points to take a 26-24 first-set win.
•The second set was all Saint Leo, which took an early lead and never trailed en route to a 25-19 second-set victory. The Lions led by as many as five points in the early going (10-5), but Florida Southern battled back to trim the deficit to just one point (18-17) in the late stages. Saint Leo was able to recover and scored seven of the final nine points to take a 2-0 lead.
• The final set of the evening featured 11 ties and four lead changes as the Mocs battled to stay alive. Neither team was able to gain much separation in the early stages. Florida Southern clung to a 10-9 lead just before the midway point, but the Lions would score two in a row to make it 11-9 and would never trail again. The Moccasins were able to stay within one or two points for most of the way until Saint Leo went on a late run to close out the contest with a 25-21 third-set victory.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Florida Southern was held to a season-low .088 attack percentage. The Mocs had 32 kills and 21 attack errors on 125 total attempts. It was the team's lowest attack percentage since hitting just .058 in a 3-0 loss to then No. 8 Tampa on Nov. 14, 2015.
• The Moccasins dropped to 70-9 all-time against the Lions, including a 27-7 mark when playing at Saint Leo. Florida Southern has dropped back-to-back road matches against Saint Leo for just the second time in series history.
• Anna Tovo finished with 10 kills on the night to extend her streak to 33-straight matches with at least 10 kills. Nicole Mattson added nine kills and Allie Geary had eight.
• Brindl Langley tallied 13 digs against the Lions to push her career total to 1,652. She needs just eight more to pass Beverly Stasis (1,659) for third place in school history. Langley is within striking distance of the all-time program record of 1,814, currently held by Sara Stewart.
UP NEXT
• Florida Southern will play host to No. 12 Palm Beach Atlantic at 7 p.m. on Friday before facing Nova Southeastern at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Jenkins Field House.
