By: William Burns, Sports Editor
The Lady Lions took on the Sunshine State Conference leader, The University of Tampa Spartans, Tuesday, Oct. 22nd, on their home court in the Marian Bowman Activities Center. Earlier in the year, The Lady Lions had traveled to Tampa to take on the Spartans and had quickly taken care of business with a victory of three sets to one. This time, with Tampa coming to our court, the tides turned in favor of Tampa.
The Lions came out hot in the match, winning the first two matches but seemed to run out of gas at the end of the third set. They took the set to match point, but the Spartans fended it off, and came back to win the set by a score of 27-25. This effort took all the fight out of our Lady Lions as their hitting percentage dropped from above .350 for the first three sets, to .086 for the last two sets. Unfortunately, the Spartans mopped up the Lions in the last two sets, by scores of 25-15, and 15-6, respectively.
The key point in the third set came late, as the lions were down 23-21 to the Spartans. Senior Anilise Fitzi came up with a crucial kill for the Lions, which spurred three straight points for the home team, which gave them the edge at 24-23. Two consecutive kills by the Spartans gave them a one-point edge before Anna Garret blocked a kill attempt by the Spartans to even it up at 25’s. However, the next play was a kill by the Spartans, and an unforced error by the Lions gave the set to the Spartans.
Despite losing the match, some impressive numbers were put up by the Lions. Redshirt junior setter Anna Garret put up very good stats through the first three sets, as she finished three sets with 45 assists. However, when the game ended, she had 51, but added 15 digs and six kills, just short of a triple double line. Junior Michelle Cuervo was the driving force behind the offense for the Lions, as she led the team with 16 kills. Two seniors, Nina Vattovaz and Annabella Arcari also added to the offense as they each had 12 kills. Arcari had an impressive hitting percentage at .409, and a team best two blocks to add to that.
On the defensive side, the Lions had eight serving aces, and were led by Sophomore Payton Bellano, who had three. Bellano and Fabiola Rosada tied for the team lead in digs with 16 each, with Vattovaz right behind them with 14.
With this loss, the Lions now hold a record of fifteen wins and six losses overall, and a conference record of six wins and four losses. This places Saint Leo at fifth in the conference, while Tampa, improving to eight wins and two losses, claims the top spot.
The Lions go into action again on Saturday, Oct. 23rd as they take on another conference opponent, the Tars of Rollins. Rollins currently has a conference record of one win and seven losses, so this will be a great game to come out and support your lions!
