Mocs Advance to South Region Semifinal with Sweep

TAMPA, Fla. – The Florida Southern College volleyball team opened the 2023 NCAA South Region Championship Thursday night taking down the fourth-seed Eckerd College, 3-0. The Mocs entered the postseason as the fifth-seed out of the South Region and will face the top-seed and host No. 1 University of Tampa tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m.
 
The victory extended FSC's win streak to a season-best seven-straight while moving the Mocs' record to 21-9 on the season. The Tritons saw their 2023 campaign come to a close with a 22-9 mark. The 3-0 sweep for the Mocs was the first for FSC in NCAA play since 2017 when the Mocs opened the South Region Championship with back-to-back sweeps in route to an NCAA Championship match appearance.
 
Senior Mackenzie Petermann was the lone hitter for either team to reach double-figures as she finished with 13 kills, 12 digs, a block and a service ace. The double-double marked the 33^rd of her career and the 17^th of 2023. Junior Zoe Lowe, junior Madison Fowler and graduate student Elena Djokovic finished with eight, seven and six kills, respectively, in the match. Lowe added a dig and a block while Fowler had a monster match at the net with a match-high eight blocks including four solo. The Detroit, Mich. native also had zero hitting errors in the match as she finished with seven kills on 15 swings for an impressive .467 hitting percentage. Djokovic added 10 digs, a block and a service ace to her totals as well.
 
Junior Kiersten Kraus and freshman Mary Kate Mulvaney had the offense running from the opening serve. Kraus finished with 14 assists, nine digs, four kills and a pair of blocks while Mulvaney led the team with 19 assists while digging up six balls. Senior libero Caroline Chambers finished with a team-best 14 digs while picking up a team-high two service aces.
 
The Tritons were led by Kalli Schoening and Jaida Clark who each finished with nine kills in the match.
 
FSC and EC entered Thursday night's match as the top two blocking programs in the Sunshine State Conference but it was the Mocs who had the edge Thursday. FSC finished with 10 blocks on the night while Eckerd was only able to connect on five blocks in the match.
 
FSC took the match in straight sets 25-19, 25-22 and 25-17.
 
The Mocs will be back in action tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. as they face the top-seed and No. 1-ranked University of Tampa on the Spartans' home court inside the Bob Martinez Athletics Center.
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