Mocs Drop Conference Opener on the Road

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Florida Southern volleyball team opened up the Sunshine State Conference portion of its schedule Thursday night on the road at undefeated Eckerd College. The Tritons and Moccasins had a back-and-forth battle in the opening set which saw the Mocs jump out to a 7-0 lead before the hosts clawed their way back into the set. Eckerd went on to edge the Mocs 28-26 and the Tritons used that momentum to capture a 3-0 victory over Florida Southern inside the McArthur Center.
 
The loss drops the Mocs' record to 5-3 on the season and 0-1 in SSC play. The Tritons improved to 9-0 and 1-0 in league action.
 
Senior Ali Travis led the Moccasin effort with seven kills over the three sets. She added six digs and a service ace as well. Sophomore Madison Fowler picked up six kills from the middle while putting up a pair of blocks. Graduate student Emma Shaddix and junior Mackenzie Petermann each chipped in four kills as well.
 
Graduate student libero Beatrice Formilan dug up a team-high 15 balls while adding a service ace. Senior Mika Garza handed out 21 assists while posting eight digs.
 
The Mocs hit just .076 as a team, including just .030 over the final two sets. The performance marked the team's lowest hitting percentage of the season. The Tritons hit .248 as a team including .296 over the final two sets.
 
Florida Southern jumped out to a 7-0 lead to open the match including a pair of service aces from Travis. An 13-5 run by the Tritons gave Eckerd its first lead of the match at 13-12. The set would remain within one to two points most of the way until a quick spurt gave the Tritons a 23-20 lead which turned into a 24-21 advantage with the opening set on the line. A kill by Petermann, an attack error from the Tritons and a kill from Shaddix tied everything at 24. An Eckerd kill followed by back-to-back-to-back service errors from both teams took the score to 26-26. An Eckerd kill and a Moccasin error ended the opening set in Eckerd's favor 28-26.
 
The second set saw the Tritons return the favor from the opening set with an 8-0 opening run of their own. Eckerd would control the set the rest of the way with the Mocs only getting as close as a seven point deficit before falling 25-13.
 
The Mocs kept things close early in the third set but were never able to capture the lead as the Tritons slowly pulled away for a 25-18 victory.
 
Stella Antypa led the Tritons with 11 kills, two blocks and four digs. Joelle Coulter added nine kills and 17 digs.
 
Florida Southern will return to action tomorrow night at 7 p.m. versus No. 1 Tampa. FThe match will play host to the annual Block Party which will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Mr. George's Green with pizza, games, t-shirts and other prizes up for grabs.
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