Volleyball Opens the 2022 Season with a Pair of Victories

LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern volleyball team opened the 2022 season Friday by hosting the annual FSC Volleyball Classic. The Moccasins faced both the Lander Bearcats and the Augusta Jaguars Friday coming away with a pair of victories. The Mocs upended the Bearcats 3-1 in the opening match of the season before knocking off the defending Southeast Region Champions Augusta 3-0 in the day one finale.
 
Florida Southern had a number of strong performances on the day with junior Mackenzie Petermann leading the way with 25 total kills over the two matches. She began the day with 10 kills and nine digs in the 3-1 victory over Lander before posting a team-high 15 kills along with eight digs in a 3-0 victory over Augusta. Petermann chipped in a pair of service aces against the Jags as well.
 
Freshman Morgan Word had quite the debut on Friday as she opened her collegiate career with a team-high tying 12 kills on just 16 swings against the Bearcats. She finished with an impressive .750 hitting percentage in the match while also chipping in three blocks including one solo and a service ace. She followed up that performance with seven kills on just 14 swings against Augusta while adding a second service ace. Overall she ended the day with a .600 hitting percentage, nearly double her next highest teammate.
 
Senior Ali Travis shared the team lead in kills against Lander with 12 while also chipping in two service aces and nine digs. She added six more kills against Augusta along with 11 digs. Graduate student Emma Shaddix was the only other hitter to reach double-figure kills in a match as she had 10 against Augusta while hitting just one error and finishing with a .409 hitting percentage.
 
Senior Mika Garza ran the offense from the setter position handing out 77 assists over the two matches including 41 in the 3-1 victory over Lander and 36 in the 3-0 sweep of Augusta. She also tied for the team lead on the day with four service aces. Garza turned in a double-double versus the Bearcats with 11 digs to go with her 41 assists. She came up just shy of a double-double versus Augusta with nine digs.
 
Graduate student Beatrice Formilan held down the libero position averaging 4.14 digs per ser including 20 in just three sets versus the Jaguars.
 
The Mocs out-hit their opponents .283 to .135 on the day while picking up 18 service aces compared to just six for the opponents. Florida Southern also out-blocked their opponents 15-7.
 
Florida Southern opened the 2022 campaign with an impressive first set of the season. The Mocs knocked off Lander 25-8 in the opening frame including holding the Bearcats to a negative hitting percentage. Lander responded in the second set with a 25-21 victory before the Mocs closed out the match 25-16 and 25-17.
 
The Mocs swept the Jaguars in straight sets 25-18, 25-19 and 25-18.
 
Florida Southern will return to action tomorrow afternoon as the Mocs play the final match of the 2022 FSC Volleyball Classic against Bloomfield with first serve scheduled for 4 p.m.
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