SAINT LEO, Fla. – The Saint Leo volleyball team opened the Sunshine State Conference portion of its 2021 schedule Friday night in front of a boisterous crowd inside the Marion Bowman Activities Center. The visiting Moccasins of Florida Southern took home the victory 3-1 after the Lions won the opening set.
 
The loss drops the Lions to 4-5 on the season and 0-1 in SSC play while the Mocs improved to 4-1 and 1-0 in league action.
 
Saint Leo was paced by senior Ashley Quero who put down a team-best 11 kills in the loss. Sophomore Margaret Schirm had a block party at the net, pushing back seven Moc attacks including one solo stop. She also chipped in eight kills to finish second on the squad.
 
Senior libero Payton Bellano was the lone Lion with double-digit digs as she finished with 14. Senior Anna Garrett and junior Skylar Singleton split the setting duties with Garrett finishing with 20 assists and three blocks while Singleton had 12 assists and a kill.
 
The Mocs placed two attackers in double-figures led by Ali Travis who had a match-high 16. Tierra Porter was a force at the net with eight total blocks including three solo.
 
The Lions hit .140 as a team after posting a .171 in the first set. The Mocs hit -.026 in the opening set but rebounded to finish with a .289 attack percentage including an impressive .500 in the fourth and final set.
 
The Lions won the opening stanza 25-22 before the Mocs powered through for a 25-13, 25-18, 25-17 victory.
 
Both team posted an impressive 12 blocks in the match while Florida Southern got the best of the Lions at the service line. Saint Leo had just one service ace against 10 service errors while the Mocs put down six aces and had eight service errors.  
 
The Lions will not have much time to dwell on the setback as they have the nationally-ranked Spartans of the University of Tampa visiting campus tomorrow afternoon. The Lions and Spartans will take the court at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
 
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