THE BASICS:
SCORE: Florida Southern 3, Valdosta State 0 (19-25, 19-25, 18-25)
RECORDS: Valdosta State 11-13, Florida Southern 15-8
LOCATION: Orlando, Fla. (Orlando Sports Center)
THE LEAD: The Valdosta State volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to Florida Southern in the first match of the 2018 Gulf South Conference/Sunshine State Conference Regional Crossover Friday afternoon at the Orlando Sports Center.  VSU junior Kayla Widera paced the Blazers with 10 kills in the match.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• In the first set, the Lady Mocs led throughout as they used a 5-0 run for a 13-5 lead.
• VSU pulled within 14-9 on three-straight points, but Florida Southern kept the Blazers at arm's length, building the lead back to 16-9 as it went on a 6-2 run for a 20-11 lead.  
• The Blazers began a mini-rally pulling within 24-19, before a kill from Rachael Martin ended the set.
• The second set saw the Blazers jump out to a 3-0 lead as VSU maintained the advantage for an 11-9 lead on a kill from sophomore Tammy Reyes-Perez.  
• The Lady Mocs then scored four-straight points for their first lead of the set at 13-11, as VSU never regained the lead in the set.
• Down 17-13, VSU again mounted a rally with three-straight points to pull within 17-16, but FSC scored a set-high six-straight points for a 23-16 lead and settled for a 25-19 win for a 2-0 lead.
• In the third set, a kill from junior Katie McInnis tied the set at six, with the set seeing a match-high five ties, but a four-point rally by the Lady Mocs gave FSC a 12-8 lead and a timeout by the Blazers.
• Later in the set, VSU scored three-straight on kills from freshman Jessie Mooney and Widera, followed by an error by FSC to pull within 18-15.
• After FSC stretched the lead to 22-16, VSU countered with back-to-back kills from Reyes-Perez for a 22-18 deficit.
• The Lady Mocs served out the match for the sweep.

 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• VSU hit .165 for the match with 41 kills in 121 swings and 21 errors, while Florida Southern hit .343 with 40 kills in 99 swings and just six miscues.  
• Widera had 10 kills in 16 chances (.625) to lead the team, while recording one assisted block.
• Reyes-Perez tallied 33 assists and had five kills.  
• FSC was led by 13 kills from Martin and Bethany Besancenez recorded 38 assists.  
• The Lady Mocs had seven blocks in the match, while VSU had one rejection.  

 
UP NEXT:

• The Blazers continue in the tournament Friday afternoon at 4:45 p.m. versus No. 6 Tampa and will face Nova Southeastern Saturday at 2:30 p.m., to conclude the tournament.
• Links to live stats for the matches are available on vstateblazers.com on the volleyball schedule page.