LAKELAND, Fla. — Florida Southern College volleyball lost to Lynn University, 3-1, on Friday night at George W. Jenkins Field House. Florida Southern hit .341 with 17 kills in its second-set win, but finished at .199 for the match while the Knights hit .338.
Florida Southern falls to 10-8 overall and 5-5 in Sunshine State play. The Knights improve to 17-2 overall and 9-1 in Sunshine State play.
Florida Southern cut a seven-point deficit to two in the first set, moving from 12-5 to 12-10 during
Brielle Mullen's service turn before the Knights answered and finished off a 25-17 set win. Earlier,
Lindsay Piktel put away a kill from Mullen and Florida Southern benefited from a Knights attack error to tie the set at 2-2, but the Knights created separation with a run that included three Ella Voorhees service aces.
Mel Garrett's kill from Mullen, a Mullen ace and two Knights errors powered the mid-set response that pulled Florida Southern within 12-10. The Knights followed with four straight points to go ahead 16-10, and although Florida Southern added later points from Piktel,
Ella Kuosmanen, Garrett and
Elizabeth McDonald, the Knights closed the set on the final two points.
An early serving surge and a late response helped the Mocs take the second set from the Knights, 25-20.
Whitney Mall opened the set with a kill, and Kuosmanen served Florida Southern from 1-0 to 6-0 with three aces, a Mall/
Layla Visser block and a McDonald kill. The Knights worked back into the set at several points, but Florida Southern continued to answer through McDonald, Mall and Piktel, then pushed ahead 20-14 on a
Bali Coles ace, a Piktel kill and a Knights setting error. After the Knights cut the margin to 20-18, Garrett stopped the run with a kill, Piktel and Garrett added kills during a push to 24-18, and Garrett later finished the set with another kill from Mullen.
Serving runs from Coles and Sasaki helped FSC erase an early 6-3 deficit and build an 11-8 lead in the third set. Coles had a service ace during a four-point push that put Florida Southern in front 7-6, and Sasaki followed later with back-to-back aces before Garrett's kill from Mullen made it 11-8. The Knights answered with four straight points to move ahead 12-11, and although Piktel tied it with a kill from Sasaki, Florida Southern could not keep the set level. After Kuosmanen's kill brought Florida Southern within 16-14, the Knights scored the next five points and carried that separation to a 25-19 set win.
The Mocs' clearest response came after falling behind 11-5, as Kuosmanen and Garrett combined on a block, Mall added a kill from Sasaki, and Florida Southern cut the set to 11-9. Earlier, Mall and McDonald supplied kills in the opening points before the Knights built separation with a five-point stretch that moved the score from 2-2 to 7-2. Piktel's kill later brought Florida Southern within 12-10, but the Knights answered and pushed the margin to 19-11. Mall and McDonald added late kills, and
Tori Borton served an ace with the Knights at set point, before the Knights finished the fourth set 25-17.
Piktel led Florida Southern with 13 kills while hitting .333 and added one block. Sasaki recorded 16 digs, three assists and two service aces. Mullen finished with 19 assists, six digs and one ace. Kuosmanen tallied three aces and four blocks.
Lillia Neill finished with 15 kills and five blocks while hitting .452. Ula Gorjup recorded 50 assists, six kills, two aces and two blocks. Lira Pukl Verdel added 15 kills and 12 digs. Clara Maidantchik collected 19 digs and two aces.
Up next, the Mocs host Nova Southeastern on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 4 p.m. at George W. Jenkins Field House in Lakeland, Fla. Florida Southern will honor
Tori Borton,
Elizabeth McDonald,
Nicole Russell and
Catherine Sweeney for Senior Day.
