This was an exciting final weekend for the Saint Leo women’s volleyball team. The first of the weekend games took place Friday, Nov. 9 at the Marion Bowman Activities Center. They faced off against the #9 ranked University of Tampa Spartans.
Sophomore Ashley Quero led the Lions in kills with 12, while Junior Nina Vattovaz also had double-figure kills as she had 11 of her own and eight digs. Junior Anilise Fitzi was the final double-digit Lion in scoring with 10 of her own kills while also adding four blocks in her performance. Freshman setter Cassandra Kamien continues to impress with spreading the ball around gaining 43 assists over the four sets while also having 11 digs and two blocks. Senior libero Reggie Van Devender played well defensively with a team-high 16 digs to go along with junior Fabiola Rosado’s 14.
The Lions offense never seemed to get going as they struggled against the tough Tampa defense. They finished with a poor .139 hitting percentage compared to Tampa’s .259. Saint Leo dropped the first set losing to the Spartans 25-19, however, they came back strong to even the sets with a 25-21 victory in the second set. However, their effort wasn’t enough as the Spartans turned up the heat and won two sets back to back with scores of 25-19 and 25-17. The Spartans had their own three-headed monster trio of attackers who finished with 11 kills each. The loss brought the Lions down to 16-14 on the year and 11-8 in the Sunshine State Conference. This win puts the Spartans at a league-best 27-3 on the year and 17-2 in the conference.
The Lions closed out their 2018 season with their final game against Rollins. This was exactly how the Lions wanted to end the season by closing it out on a high note. They played an impressive game and swept Rollins three sets to zero. Seniors Dallas Jasper and Van Devender were honored during the pregame ceremony, who then later played a huge role in the impressive win. Jasper was tied for the team lead with 10 kills in the victory, all this while putting down the set-winning kills in the first two sets. She finished with an impressive .412 hitting percentage in the win. Van Devender led the Lions with 15 digs on the defensive side of the ball. She was the only Lion in double digits in digs with four assists to add to it. Junior Victoria Omoregie and Quero joined Jasper with 10 kills of their won while Omoregie had three blocks and Quero had four digs. Kamien had another 40 assist game over the three sets to go with her two service aces and eight digs. The Lions defense was fantastic as they limited Rollin’s offense to a terrible .091 hitting percentage as a team with 18 hitting errors. The Lions had a team hitting percentage of .294 as they also out-dug the Tars 50-39. This was the perfect ending for the year for the Lady Lions.
