Mocs Win Five Set Thriller to Close Opening Day at GSC/SSC Crossover

HOOVER, Ala. – The Florida Southern volleyball team opened up play at the 2022 Gulf South Conference/Sunshine State Conference Crossover in Hoover, Ala. Friday afternoon. The Moccasins began the three-match weekend with a tough 3-1 setback against University of Alabama Huntsville before surviving a five-set marathon against Shorter, 3-2.
 
The split moved Florida Southern's record to 10-8 on the year. The Chargers of UAH improved to 9-12 while the Hawks fell to 12-12.
 
Junior Mackenzie Petermann led the way against the Hawks as she tallied 23 kills and 13 digs for her sixth double-double of the season. Graduate student Emma Shaddix chipped in 11 kills and a pair of blocks while senior Ali Travis had 10 kills, a team-high 18 digs and four blocks. The double-double marked her fourth of the season. Junior Emily Crescenzi led the blocking attack with five on the night including one solo.
 
Graduate student libero Beatrice Formilan had 17 digs and a team-best five service aces. Junior Cassidy Markel handed out 44 assists from her setter position while tallying 10 digs, a service ace, a block and a pair of kills.
 
The Hawks jumped out to the early lead in the match taking the opening set 25-22. The Mocs battled back to take the next two sets 25-18 and 25-16. The Hawks would not go down without a fight as the controlled the fourth set and won 25-20. FSC jumped out to an early lead in the fifth set and held off the come-from-behind Hawks. Shorter tied the set four times down the stretch but a Petermann kill, followed by a Markel service ace, capped off by a Crescenzi and Petermann block ended the match 15-12.
 
In the loss to the Chargers it was Travis who led the way with eight kills and seven digs in the loss. Petermann added seven kills and eight digs while senior Jana Gilic had seven kills and a team0best six blocks including three solo stops.
 
Markel and senior Mika Garza split time at setter versus UAH. Markel finished with team-highs 22 assists and four service aces. Garza had eight assists after seeing time in just the opening set. Formilan was the lone Moc in double-figures in digs as she led the team with 22.
 
UAH won the opening set of the match 25-18 before the Mocs dominated the second set 25-10. UAH would rebound and win the final two sets 25-16 and 25-18.
 
The Mocs will be back in action tomorrow, Oct. 15 in their final match of the GSC/SSC Crossover. FSC will take on the University of Montevallo with first serve scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Read Full Article