Lincoln sweeps Mosley

LYNN HAVEN - Mosley's plan to avoid Tallahassee Leon in the District 2-5A volleyball tournament took a hit on Tuesday.

Tallahassee Lincoln swept Mosley 25-19, 25-15, 25-23 at the Jim Redfern Gymnasium. It was a key district match, and one that helped give Lincoln a little breathing room in the sardine can that is the middle of the standings.

Mosley had one of its poorest service nights of the season and fell to 15-4 overall, all four losses coming within one of the most competitive districts in the state. The Dolphins are 2-4 in the district, with matches against Rutherford and Tallahassee Chiles to come next week.

Mosley currently sits in fourth place. To excuse the cliché, if the season ended today the Dolphins would be in the play-in match against Rutherford, with the winner facing Leon in the semifinals. All Leon has done is roll to 7-0 in the district and returned every top player from last season's state championship runner-up squad.

Two straight wins and one Chiles loss against Leon or Lincoln gives Mosley the third seed.

"We're not out of it yet," Mosley coach Steve Canfield said. "If we (Chiles and Mosley) are both 4-4 we'd win the tiebreaker, so we have a chance."

Assuming Mosley takes the third seed, Lincoln would be waiting at No. 2 in the semifinal. The Trojans (8-7, 4-3) defeated Mosley twice this season and used a power game led by Paige Pridgeon, who is entertaining offers from several Division I schools, to overwhelm the Dolphins on Tuesday.

However, the lack of holding serve cost Mosley the most. The Dolphins had 24 serves that ended with a side out, giving crucial points to Lincoln and denying them from Mosley. Lincoln won its three games by a combined 18 points, and it's conceivable that even a few rallies out of the 24 missed opportunities could have turned the tide.

"We didn't serve the ball well at all," Canfield said. "We were in the match, but we kept beating ourselves.

"If we can stop beating ourselves then we have a chance to be a good volleyball team."

Mosley did a better job of serving early in Game 3, with Ann Delaney staking the Dolphins to a 9-4 lead before a change of possession. Mosley also held a 17-10 lead before the first of the final seven broken serves allowed Lincoln back in.

Jennifer Rich shaved a five-point deficit to one and two botched Mosley serves tied the match at 20-20 and 21-21. Another broken serve gave Lincoln a 23-22 edge and Pridgeon, who had a team-high 15 kills, slammed the ball on Megan Williams' final serve to seal the match.

Mosley had a balanced attack, with Deanna Canfield notching seven kills and nine assists, Delaney six kills, 16 assists and 14 digs, Cayce May six kills and Kelsey Bell five kills. But it was the service problems, including five from leading scorer Deanna Canfield, that undermined the effort.

Lincoln won the junior varsity match 27-25, 25-14. Tasha Trzaska had 11 assists and Amanda Singletary eight kills for the Dolphin JV (7-6).

Mosley is at Vernon on Thursday.