SAINT LEO, Fla. – Saint Leo University volleyball had its long awaited home opener on the Pete and Linda Biscardi Court inside the Marion Bowman Activities Center on Friday evening. The Lions hosted the Florida Southern College Moccasins in a hard fought battle between two fierce rivals with the visiting team taking the 3-0 win. The Green & Gold put on a show early jumping out to 12-3 lead highlighted by an 8-0 run to open the match. Saint Leo falls to 1-6 overall and 0-2 in SSC play as Florida Southern improves to 7-2 overall and 1-0 in conference action.

Saint Leo hit .023 as a team with 32 kills and 18 errors on 129 attempts in a 3-0 loss to Florida Southern. Jala Drayton led the Lions with eight kills, while Paula Perez Rosales added four and Kaitlyn Anderson contributed two kills and two service aces. Rose Kailahi finished with three kills and two aces, while Sabrina Valentin added two kills and nine digs. Tajma Muharemovic paced the offense with 16 assists, and libero Mia Moser collected a team-high 12 digs

How It Happened: Florida Southern 3, Saint Leo 0
Set 1 | Florida Southern 25, Saint Leo 21
Saint Leo came out firing in the opening set, using kills from Jala Drayton and Rose Kailahi to surge in front 10-3. The Lions extended the advantage to 14-7 after a Kailahi ace forced Florida Southern to regroup. The Moccasins answered with a 9-2 run that leveled the frame at 16-16, shifting momentum back in their favor. Saint Leo briefly regained a 19-17 edge, but Florida Southern closed on an 8-2 spurt to take the set 25-21.

Set 2 | Florida Southern 25, Saint Leo 20
The second frame was back-and-forth early, with neither team leading by more than three points through the midway stages. Saint Leo trailed just 17-16 after a kill from Kaitlyn Anderson, and a late push from Drayton kept the Lions close at 21-19. Florida Southern, however, capitalized on a pair of timely kills and a Saint Leo error to create separation, sealing the set 25-20 and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Set 3 | Florida Southern 25, Saint Leo 13
Florida Southern opened the third set on a 7-2 run and never looked back, forcing Saint Leo to play from behind. The Lions cut the deficit to 12-8 after kills from Paula Perez Rosales and Sabrina Valentin, but the Moccasins answered with six straight points to push the margin to double digits. Drayton added a late kill to keep Saint Leo on the board, but Florida Southern's .238 hitting percentage in the frame proved too much as they closed out the set 25-13 and secured the sweep.

 
Inside the Numbers

• Team hitting percentage: Saint Leo .023, Florida Southern .144.
• Kill leaders: Drayton 8, Perez Rosales 4, Kailahi 3, Anderson 2, Valentin 2, Gandolfo 2.
• Assists: Muharemovic 16.
• Serving: 6 total aces, led by Kailahi and Anderson with 2 each, Moser and Muharemovic added one of their own. 
• Defense: Moser 12 digs, Muharemovic 13, Valentin 9.
• Blocks: Drayton 3 (1 solo, 2 assists), Valentin 2 (1 solo, 1 assist), Anderson 1 solo, Gandolfo 1 solo, Perez Rosales 1 assist.

 
 
UP NEXT
Saint Leo is back in action next weekend as it makes trips to Embry-Riddle on Friday, October 3 and Florida Tech on Saturday, October 4. First serve in Daytona Beach is scheduled for 6 p.m. while Saturday is set for a 4 p.m. start time.