LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern College volleyball team fell to the No. 9 ranked University of Tampa in a Sunshine State Conference matchup on Tuesday night with a score of 3-1 (20-25, 13-25, 25-17, 16-25). With the loss, the Mocs move to 13-11 overall and 9-8 in SSC play. The Spartans improve to 25-2 on the year and 16-1 in the conference.
HOW IT HAPPENED
1st Set | FSC got started early with a kill from
Emily Crescenzi to make it 1-1. The Mocs had to play catch up and
Tierra Porter would be the key factor with a big kill straight down the middle to make it 6-5 in favor of the Spartans.
Mackenzie Petermann turned things around for FSC with back-to-back kills from the back row to make it 10-7 as the Florida Southern started to close in on Tampa. Moccasins would put up consecutive blocks from Petermann, Crescenzi, and
Emma Shaddix to come within two of the Spartans at 11-9. FSC would come within two points of Tampa at the 21-19 mark after
Cassidy Markel connected with sophomore Crescenzi for two kills from the middle.
2nd Set | The Mocs started up 1-0 after Crescenzi continued to dominate from the middle, but that would be the only chance FSC had with the lead. Porter took the game in her hands after Southern was down 13-6. The senior went on a run to bring the Mocs up to just a 3-point trail with four consecutive kills. Southern rallied to come back but fell to Tampa 25-13.
3rd Set | FSC started set three off with fire as they took an early 5-2 lead with Porter continuing her success from the second set with two kills.
Megan Carron brought the Mocs up to five with back-to-back aces to make it an 8-2 advantage before the Spartans would call their first timeout of the set. Southern was able to make to take a set from the Spartans as
Erica Ronda made her mark on the game with the Mocs taking a 16-5 lead. Ronda put up three kills in the set from the back row to lead FSC to a 25-17 win as Petermann and Crescenzi put up a block followed by a Markel ace to send the game into the fourth set.
4th Set | Despite the rally in the third set to force a fourth, the Mocs started the final set down and had to work their way back after getting down to an 11-4 start before FSC would call a timeout.
Zoe Lowe would step in and get her first kill of the game to bring the Mocs closer to the Spartans and make it a 16-6 score. Florida Southern was able to cut Tampa's lead down to eight as
Ali Travis served two aces but it was not enough as Southern fell 25-16.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Petermann led the first set with seven kills, followed by Crescenzi with kills.
- In set one, the Mocs were only one kill behind the Spartans with 12 kills to Tampa's 13.
- The Meridianville, Alabama native, Porter would be the key player in set two leading the way for the Mocs with six total kills and a solo block.
- In set three, the Mocs outhit the Spartans with 16 kills to Tampas six.
- The Mocs hit .119 on the day, with 41 total kills.
- Markel accounted for 36 of the team's 37 assists. Libero, Beatrice Formilan had the other.
- The Mocs averaged 7.0 blocks in the match, with Petermann leading with two solo blocks and Porter with one. Crescenzi added four assists and Shaddix with two.
- Formilan led the Mocs in digs with 16 followed by Carron with 11.
UP NEXT
The Mocs hit the road for the final time this season as they travel to face Nova Southeastern on Thursday, Nov. 11 for another SSC competition. The first serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
