SAINT LEO, Fla. – After a long stretch on the road, the Saint Leo volleyball team has picked up back-to-back wins at home after a 3-1 victory over Florida Tech Friday night. The Lions struggled to find their offensive rhythm all evening but a balanced attack led to the win over the visiting Panthers.
The Lions improved to 11-15 overall on the year including 5-10 in Sunshine State Conference play while the Panthers fell to 4-22 and 2-13 in league action.
Saint Leo had five players finish with eight or more kills with the highest achieving 11. Redshirt junior
Elizabeth Sandoval picked up five kills in the final set to finish with a team-high 11 in the match. She just missed out on a double-double as she added nine digs and a pair of block assists. Sophomore
Margaret Schirm finished just behind with 10 kills to go along with five digs and a pair of blocks.
Freshman
Colby Stempkowski led the team with six blocks while just missing out on doube-figures in kills with nine. Sophomore
De'Asia Hill broke out for a career-high eight kills in the match while also stepping up with four blocks. Junior
Madi Certain matched Hill with eight kills as well while picking up seven digs and a service ace.
Senior setter
Anna Garrett handed out 39 assists while also posting a team-best three service aces. She also chipped in eight digs, two kills and a block assist. Senior libero
Payton Bellano dug up a team-best 26 balls while adding two service aces and a free ball kill. Junior
Skylar Singleton picked up two more service aces while digging up 13 balls. She also dished out five assists while spending some of the match at setter.
The Lions opened the match a but sluggish as they hitting percentage did not reach .100 over the opening two periods. In the opening set, the Panthers hung on for a 27-25 victory while the Lions hit .056. In the second set the Lions edged out the Panthers by the same score 27-25 while upping their hitting percentage to .093 while holding the Panthers to a .087 mark. The third set was close throughout including the Panthers tying the stanza at 23-23 before the Lions captured the 2-1 lead with a 25-23 victory. The third set was the first time in the match the Lions hit above .100 at .130 and they used that momentum to push through a quick fourth set 25-18. The Green and Gold finally found some rhythm in the fourth and pushed their hitting percentage to .250 in the period to finish the match at .126.
The Panthers were led by a trio of double-digit kill leaders as Katie Erdmann and Lilian Muszynski each finished with a team-high 11 kills.
The victory avenged an earlier 3-1 loss in Melbourne for the Lions which also marked the last SSC win for the Panthers this season.
The Lions will return to action tomorrow, Nov. 6 at 4 p.m. as the Barry Buccaneers visit the Marion Bowman Activities Center in the third of five-straight home matches for the Lions.
For the latest news, updates, and information on the Saint Leo volleyball program, be sure to visit SaintLeoLions.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Lions news by following Saint Leo Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
