BRUNSWICK, Ga. - Florida Memorial used 10 service aces, including four from rookie
Biancaliz Cruz to hand Coastal Georgia their eighth loss of the season, and fourth in Sun Conference play. The Lions won sets one, three and four en route to a 3-1 (25-11, 22-25, 25-13, 25-11) win over the Mariners.
FMU moved to 19-9 overall (11-4 in league play) with the win and is now in second place in the Sun Conference. Coastal Georgia fell to 10-4 in league play (17-8 overall) and fourth in the conference with the loss.
The Lions dictated much of the first set, jumping out to the first substantial lead of the frame via a 4-0 run to lead 8-4. Later in the set FMU pushed its lead to 17-6, forcing CGU to use its second timeout. The Mariners would win the next two points, but the Lions led comfortably and went on a 5-0 run to close the set out at 25-11.
Coastal Georgia got off to a better start in the second set and led 7-0 to start the frame. A kill by
Sammyra Albarran sparked a 6-0 run by Florida Memorial to close FMU within two points at 7-5. The two teams played close over the next few minutes with neither one leading by more than three until a kill by Kaci Hollenbacher spurred a 5-0 run by CGU. The Mariners held off the Lions to win the set 25-22.
Florida Memorial ran away with the final two sets, 25-13 and 25-11. The Lions closed out the final set hitting .407 in the frame with just one attack error.
Junior
Rachele Mancinelli led all players with 10 kills in the match, her eighth 10-plus kill match of the season.
Keisha Santana had a season-high tying 30 digs on the defensive end. The junior matched her season-high after posting 30 digs in the 3-1 win over Ave Maria on Sept. 14, 2019.
The Lions will firm up its Sun Conference Tournament seeding next Wed., Nov. 6 when they host Keiser in a Senior Day contest at 7 p.m. ET at the Wellness Center.