(MIAMI GARDENS, FLA) -- The road to a conference championship began today as the Florida Memorial University volleyball team defeated St. Thomas University 3-1, Wednesday, September 11.

The game, played on the anniversary of 9/11, was dedicated to all first responders and included a moment of silence before the singing of the national anthem by assistant coach Jeffrey Hardman.

In their first conference match of the 2019 season, the Bobcats started with a 6-1 run over the Lions which quickly turned around to a more competitive game. In her first time on the court at Florida Memorial, sophomore Rachele Mancinelli finished the first set with three kills and an ace. 

St. Thomas held the lead for the entire first set and won 25-20 after a home team service error. 

This was the first FMU game in almost two weeks and after letting the rust wear off the Lions were ready to step up their game play. In the second set they once again had a slow start but an ace gave them their first lead of the night, 7-6.

Multiple attacking errors by STU allowed the Lions to go on a 5-1 run taking a 14-10 lead over the Bobcats. Florida Memorial would hold onto their lead for the rest of the match and back to back Kills from Mancinelli sealed their 25-19 win. 

Junior setter Francheska Rivera scored the first point in the third set to change the pace of the game early for the Lions. The Bobcats tied the game four times early on but weren't able to tame the Lions as they scored eight straight points, most of which came from STU errors. 

The Lions led 2-1 going into the fourth set and once again four lead changes took place early on before FMU took control of the game. 

A strong kill from junior Sammyra Albarran gave Florida Memorial a 21-14 advantage over St. Thomas and after a few more points from their opponents, the Lions closed out the match 25-17.

Mancinelli finished the match with a game-high 16 kills and and 17 digs while also tying with junior Daphinie Correa with three aces each. Correa added 10 kills while freshman Biancaliz Cruz added five and a block. 

Rivera led all players with 35 assists and added eight more digs to her season stats. Junior Keisha Santana collected 14 digs and handed out three assists. 

Their next matchup will take place Saturday, September 14 at Ave Maria University. The game is set to begin at 2 P.M. 

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