LAKELAND, Fla. — Florida Southern College volleyball lost to the University of Tampa, 3-1, on Saturday afternoon. The Mocs opened with a 25-12 set win but dropped the next three 25-27, 13-25 and 15-25.
Florida Southern falls to 6-4 overall and 1-1 in Sunshine State play. Tampa is 10-1 overall and 2-0 in Sunshine State play.
The Mocs traded points early before kills from
Whitney Mall,
Lindsay Piktel and
Mel Garrett helped build a 7-5 edge. Florida Southern expanded that margin by winning seven of the next eight rallies, with
Ella Kuosmanen adding a kill and a service ace and Garrett closing the stretch with a kill for a 14-6 lead. After the Spartans briefly interrupted the run,
Tori Borton served an ace for a 16-7 lead , and Florida Southern later moved to 20-10 on a block by Kuosmanen and a Mall kill. Tampa got to 21-12, but Piktel,
Bali Coles and
Brielle Mullen supplied the final four kills as the Mocs took the opening set 25-12.
After Tampa scored the first two points, Florida Southern answered with kills from Garrett and
Catherine Sweeney and later used back-to-back Borton aces to move in front 7-4. With the set at 8-7, the Mocs won seven of the next eight rallies, getting kills from Mall and
Nako Sasaki before a Garrett and Kuosmanen block helped push the lead to 15-8. The Spartans cut the margin to 15-13 with five straight points, and after Florida Southern stopped that stretch on a Tampa attack error, the Spartans scored four in a row to take a 17-16 lead on Jenna Glaudel's kill. The set stayed within one point the rest of the way, with Piktel kills tying it at 24-24 and putting Florida Southern ahead 23-22 earlier, but Tampa answered the final 25-25 tie with a Mak Carter kill and a Florida Southern bad set to take the set 27-25.
The Spartans used a seven-point run after a 1-1 tie to move in front 8-1, with Maddie Sofarelli adding two kills and Logan Milan serving consecutive aces during the stretch. The Mocs picked up kills from Mall, Piktel and Coles as the set progressed, but Tampa continued to answer and pushed the score to 18-7 before extending it to 21-8. The Moccasins put together a late three-point push on a
Layla Visser block, a Sasaki ace and a Mall kill from
Mallory Baruch to get to 22-13. Tampa closed the set with the final three points, finishing it on an Ainhoa Molleja kill and two Florida Southern attack errors for a 25-13 result.
Florida Southern built a 5-3 lead in the fourth set behind early kills from Mall, Piktel and Garrett, but the Spartans tied it at 5-5 and went ahead 6-5 on a Florida Southern attack error. After a Tampa attack error made it 6-6, Tampa scored the next three points on kills by Connor Rahn, Mak Carter and Camden Rahn, and a Jenna Glaudel ace later gave the Spartans an 11-7 lead. The Mocs continued to side out on kills from Mall, Piktel, Kuosmanen and Garrett, but Tampa stayed ahead through 19-14 and then took four straight points with Logan Milan serving to reach 24-14. Mall's kill fought off set point before Katelynn Lowery's kill closed Tampa's 25-15 set win.
Mall led Florida Southern with 14 kills while hitting .364. Sasaki collected a team-high 19 digs, added six assists and converted her lone attack. Mullen finished with 14 assists and 10 digs, while Borton added 13 assists, three service aces and seven digs.
Ana Rivera recorded 24 digs for Tampa. Connor Rahn led the attack with 11 kills and added five digs. Jenna Glaudel finished with 22 assists, 14 digs and three service aces. Mak Carter added eight kills on a .467 hitting percentage with three blocks.
Up next, the Mocs host Embry-Riddle on Friday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m. at George W. Jenkins Field House in Lakeland, Fla.
