Florida Southern Seeking Sixth NCAA South Region Championship

LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern volleyball team will head to Tampa, Fla. this Thursday, Nov. 30 to begin play at the 2023 NCAA South Region Championship. The Mocs enter as the No. 5 seed and will face the No. 4 seed Eckerd on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The match will mark the 34^th appearance by the Moccasins in NCAA postseason play.
 
FSC holds a 22-11 record in opening round matches at the NCAA Tournament and have won eight of the last nine dating back to 2011. The Mocs and Tritons have met twice in postseason play with the Mocs taking both contests including a 3-2 victory in the 2012 opening round and another 3-2 win in 2013's opening round. FSC holds an all-time 77-16 record versus the Tritons but Eckerd has won four-straight versus the Mocs with the last FSC win in the series coming in 2021.  
 
Florida Southern made its return to NCAA postseason play last season after a three-year hiatus. The Mocs did not have a single member on the squad last season with postseason experience but this season the Mocs return excited for another chance to advance. Senior Mackenzie Petermann leads the way for the Mocs following a First Team All-Sunshine State Conference regular season performance. The Richmond Hill, Ga. native surpassed 1,000 career kills earlier this season and currently ranks fourth in the conference in kills per set (3.81) and 32^nd in all of NCAA Division II. Graduate student Elena Djokovic and junior Zoe Lowe have been the second and third options offensively for the Mocs all season. Djokovic earned Third Team All-SSC honors for her efforts and ended the regular season averaging 2.35 kills per set. Lowe, who has come on strong late this season, and is averaging 2.11 kills per set including 3.04 kps over the last six matches.
 
One area that the Mocs have excelled in this season is blocking. FSC currently leads the SSC and ranks seventh in the NCAA in blocks per set with 2.59. Junior Madison Fowler and senior Emily Crescenzi have been leading the way with Fowler averaging 1.21 blocks per set while Crescenzi is averaging 0.99. Fowler ranks second in the SSC in blocks per set while ranking 20^th in the NCAA. She was selected Third Team All-SSC following the regular season.
 
On the backline, senior Caroline Chambers has held down the libero position. She is averaging a team-best 3.43 digs per set. Junior setter Kiersten Kraus ranks second on the squad with 2.83 digs per set. Kraus has been a welcomed addition to the FSC squad this season as she currently ranks fourth in the NCAA in triple-doubles with four this season and was a Third Team All-SSC selection this season. Petermann is nearly tied with Kraus in digs as she also averages 2.83 per set but is one shy of Kraus season total. Djokovic is not far behind the pair as she is averaging 2.79 digs per set this season.
 
Kraus has been splitting time at setter with freshman Mary Kate Mulvaney. The pair have worked together to get the offense rolling this season with Mulvaney leading the way with 5.68 assists per set followed by Kraus at 4.40.
 
The Tritons opened the season winning 21 of their first 24 matches but closed the year losing five of their final six contests. Eckerd is making its 11^th postseason appearance in program history and second-straight. The Tritons boast the fourth-ranked attack in terms of kills (13.24) in the SSC while ranking second behind the Mocs in blocks at 2.55 per set. The Tritons' 2.55 blocks per set also rank ninth in the NCAA. Eckerd has the top serving attack in the SSC with 1.86 aces per set while allowing the fewest aces per set to opponents this season in the SSC.
 
Stella Antypa leads the Tritons with a 2.97 kills per set average, while Seiler Hruska is second on the roster with 2.65 per set. Antypa was selected Second Team All-SSC following the regular season. Kalli Schoening and Jaida Clark lead a potent blocking attack. Schoening was a Third Team All-SSC selection but leads the SSC and ranks 10^th in the NCAA in blocks per set at 1.28. Clark, a Second Team All-SSC honoree, is fourth in the conference and 44^th in the NCAA in blocks per set as well at 1.11. The pair have combined to win three SSC Defensive Player of the Week honors this season.
 
Aleksa Curta and Sarah Sampson have split time at setter for the Tritons while Ashley Eck has served as the team's libero. Eck currently ranks second in the SSC in digs per set at 4.50.
 
The winner of the Florida Southern versus Eckerd match will face the winner of No. 1 seed Tampa versus No. 8 seed Spring Hill. The other half of the bracket is made up of No. 2 seed Lynn versus No. 7 seed West Florida and No. 3 seed Embry-Riddle and No. 6 seed Nova Southeastern.
 
Florida Southern will take to the court Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. inside the Bob Martinez Athletics Center on the campus of the University of Tampa. Tickets may be purchased at the gate. The ticket gate will open 60 minutes before the first match of each day. Admission for each day of the tournament is: Adults ($8), Senior Citizens/Military ($5), Student ($3) and children under 2 (Free).
 
Parking is available for free at the Delaware Parking Garage and the West Parking Garage. The Delaware garage is located southwest of the Martinez Center, while the West garage is located north of the Martinez Center.
 
For 2023, all rounds of the Division II Volleyball Championship will be streamed on the Hudl platform. Users will be able to access this content through NCAA.com and an OTT app – "NCAA Championships Pass" – available on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Google TV devices. Fans will have two viewing options: $9.95 per contest or $29.95 for all Division II Volleyball Championship games.