MELBOURNE, Fla. — Florida Southern College volleyball (15-9, 10-6 Sunshine State) rallied from two sets down to defeat Florida Tech (7-18, 4-12 Sunshine State) 3-2 on Friday night. The Mocs won the final three sets 25-15, 25-23 and 15-8 after dropping the first two 21-25 and 23-25.
Florida Southern improves to 15-9 overall and 10-6 in Sunshine State play. The Panthers fall to 7-18 overall and 4-12 in Sunshine State play.
The Mocs were even at 20-20 late in the first set after
Bali Coles answered with a kill, but the Panthers scored the next four points and finished the set 25-21 on Scarlett Kimbrell's kill. Earlier, Florida Southern recovered from the opening point and built a 7-3 lead behind kills from
Mel Garrett and
Lindsay Piktel, with
Nako Sasaki assisting three points during that stretch. The Panthers pulled the set back to 11-11 and later moved ahead 16-14, but the Mocs responded with Garrett's kill, a Panthers attack error and
Whitney Mall's kill to tie it at 18-18. Piktel led FSC with six kills in the set, while Garrett added four and Mall had three as the Mocs stayed within reach before the Panthers' closing push.
Piktel delivered kills for the Mocs' first and third points in set two, and the visitors also got a Garrett-
Ella Kuosmanen block to answer a Panthers push and make it 4-4. Coles totaled five kills in the set, but neither team was able to string together more than two points in a row. Florida Southern's biggest late response came at 20-18, when Coles put away a kill and
Tori Borton followed with a service ace to tie the second set at 20-20. After Mall's kill brought Florida Southern within 23-22 and Coles added another at 24-23, the Panthers took the final point on a service error to finish the set, 25-23.
In the third set, the Mocs separated by winning seven of eight rallies from a 16-11 lead, moving ahead 23-12 behind a Sasaki service ace, two Piktel kills and a Borton ace. Earlier, after the Panthers moved in front 5-4, Kuosmanen tied the set from a Coles assist before Florida Southern took the next three points on a Panthers error, a Mall kill and a Kuosmanen kill to go up 8-5. FIT later scored consecutive points to get within 15-11, but Garrett answered with a kill from
Brielle Mullen before Sasaki's serving stretch pushed the Mocs back out. After the Panthers reached 23-14, Kuosmanen moved FSC to 24-14 with a kill from Garrett, and Mall finished the 25-15 set win from a Borton assist.
The Moccasins closed the fourth set by winning the final two points, getting a kill from Mall off Borton's assist for a 24-23 edge before Kuosmanen served an ace to finish a 25-23 set win. Earlier, Mall helped Florida Southern steady a tight opening stretch with three early kills, while Garrett and Kuosmanen also put away swings as the teams traded points. The Panthers moved ahead 15-11 with four straight points, but the Mocs worked back behind kills from Garrett, Coles and Piktel, plus a block by Piktel and
Layla Visser. Piktel tied the set at 20-20 on a kill from Sasaki, and Kuosmanen followed with a block to put FSC in front before Garrett, Mall and Kuosmanen supplied the late finish.
The Mocs built a 5-2 advantage in the fifth set with points from Mall, Coles and Garrett, then answered after the Panthers cut the margin to 8-7. Florida Southern then went on a 6-1 run to close out the match. Piktel added a block with Kuosmanen during the closing push, and Mullen assisted on three late kills, including Garrett's finish on the final point.
Piktel led the Mocs in kills for the seventh straight match, finishing with 17 to go along with four blocks. Mall finished with 15 kills on a .433 hitting percentage. Sasaki recorded 26 digs, 14 assists and three service aces. Mullen added 20 assists and 19 digs for her 15th double-double of the season.
Cordelia Kearns finished with team highs of 16 kills and 19.0 points while adding four block assists. Elisa Broggio recorded 13 kills without an attack error on 26 swings, hitting .500 with three block assists. Natalie Rhodes tallied 20 assists and four service aces. Hanna Schneider collected a team-high 17 digs and added a service ace.
Up next, the Florida Southern volleyball team visits No. 11 Barry on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 4 p.m. at the Health & Sports Center in Miami Shores, Fla.
