Volleyball Drops Fifth-Set Heartbreaker

LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern volleyball team was looking to extend its win streak to four Saturday afternoon but the visiting Fighting Knights of Lynn used a come-from-behind effort to take a five-set victory inside the George W. Jenkins Field House. After dropping the opening set, the Mocs won sets two and three but Lynn would not go down without a fight as the Fighting Knights took a close fourth set before edging the Mocs in the fifth.
 
The loss drops Florida Southern's record to 8-5 on the season including 3-3 in Sunshine State Conference play. The Fighting Knights improved to 9-3 overall and 4-2 in league action.
 
Junior Mackenzie Petermann and graduate student Emma Shaddix led the FSC attack as they finished with 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Petermann had 12 kills, 11 digs and five blocks. It marked her fifth double-double of the season and the five blocks marked a new career-high for the junior who led the team with three solo stops. Shaddix tallied her 11 kills on just 26 swings while posting a .346 hitting percentage. She added a dig and two blocks.
 
Seniors Ali Travis and Jana Gilic just missed out on double-figures as they each finished with nine kills in the loss. Travis added 13 digs, a team-high two service aces and one solo block. Gilic earned her nine kills off of 19 swings for a .316 hitting percentage. She added a service ace, five digs and four blocks. Senior Madison Barton finished one kill back with eight while taking just 15 swings. She finished with an impressive .400 hitting percentage while chipping in a pair of block assists.
 
Senior setter Mika Garza handed out 28 assists in the loss while digging up six balls. Junior Cassidy Markel finished with 18 assists and eight digs while they each had one kill. Graduate student libero Beatrice Formilan led the backline with 25 digs while adding one service ace.
 
Lynn was led by a quartet of attackers who finished with double-digit kills. Paige Barash led the way with 19 kills, 12 digs and three blocks.
 
FSC finished with a team hitting percentage of .256 which bested Lynn's mark of .177. FSC also out-blocked the Fighting Knights 12-8, earning 10 lucky fans free Little Caesars Pizza for the second-straight match.  Lynn had the edge at the service line with seven aces compared to FSC's four. The Mocs also had 10 service errors compared to Lynn's nine.
 
Lynn took the match in five sets 25-19, 16-25, 19-25, 25-22, 15-11. FSC was able to hold Lynn to a .123 hitting percentage in sets two and three but the Fighting Knights hit .209 in the three sets in which they won. On the other hand, the Mocs hit .436 in sets two and three and just .158 in the other three sets.
 
The Mocs will be back in action this Thursday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. as they welcome in Embry-Riddle who is also 3-3 in SSC play this season. The Eagles will face Rollins at home Tuesday night before heading over to Lakeland on Thursday.
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