Balanced Attack Leads Mocs Over Sailfish, 3-1

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Florida Southern College volleyball team picked up its second win of the season over Palm Beach Atlantic Saturday afternoon on the road. The Moccasins completed their second season sweep of the weekend as they upended the Sailfish 3-1. Junior Kiersten Kraus led the way for FSC with her fourth triple-double of the season which ranks third among all NCAA Division II student-athletes.
 
The victory pushes Florida Southern's record to 16-9 overall and 9-7 in conference play while the Sailfish fall to 9-15 on the year and 3-12 in league action.
 
Kraus took care of business Saturday as she tallied 10 kills, 16 assists and 12 digs. She also added four blocks for good measure. Senior Mackenzie Petermann and junior Madison Fowler shared the team lead in kills as they each finished with 12 on the day. Petermann collected her 29^th career double-double, 13^th of the season, with 12 digs while also adding a service ace and block assist. The Richmond Hill, Ga. native had just one hitting error the entire match and finished with an impressive .440 hitting percentage. Fowler added four blocks to her stat line and hit a team-best .556 as she collected her 12 kills on just 18 swings.
 
Graduate student Elena Djokovic and junior Zoe Lowe each tallied 11 kills in the victory. Djokovic chipped in 12 digs as well for her eighth double-double of the season. Djokovic also added three blocks including two solo stops defensively. Lowe added two blocks to her total and finished with a .429 hitting percentage while taking just 21 swings in the match to collect her 11 kills.
 
Freshman setter Mary Kate Mulvaney led the team with 25 assists while digging up seven balls while senior libero Caroline Chambers led the backline with 13 digs while nearly pulling off a double-double with eight assists.
 
The Mocs hit .338 as a team while holding the Sailfish to .157. If you remove the opening set which the Sailfish won, the Mocs hit .367 over the final three sets while holding PBA to .097 during that same stretch. FSC posted 12 blocks in the win while PBA posted seven. Both programs finished with four service aces while the Mocs had 11 more digs than the Sailfish at 59-48.
 
PBA came out strong in the opening set and took the period 25-22. The Mocs responded with three-straight lop-sided sets including 25-15 in the second, 25-14 in the third and 25-15 in the match clinching fourth.
 
The Mocs will now return home to focus on their two remaining home matches of the year. FSC will host Florida Tech on Friday, Nov. 10 in a 7 p.m. match while Rollins College visits Lakeland on Saturday for a 4 p.m. match. FSC will honor its seniors prior to the Rollins match on Saturday.
 
earned a key Sunshine State Conference victory Friday night on the road at Nova Southeastern University. The Moccasins defeated the Sharks 3-1 inside Rick Case Arena, their second victory over NSU this season.
 
The win moves FSC's record to 15-9 overall and 8-7 in SSC action while the Sharks fell to 15-8 on the year and 8-6 in league play.
 
Graduate student Elena Djokovic led the way for the Mocs on Friday as she earned her seventh double-double of the season with a team-best 15 kills and 12 digs. She also led the team defensively with five total blocks including a pair of solo stops. Senior Mackenzie Petermann and junior Zoe Lowe were not far behind as they each finished with 14 kills in the match. Petermann added 14 digs as well for her 28^th career double-double and 12^th of the season. Lowe had just three hitting errors for the match and finished with a .379 hitting percentage.
 
Junior setter Kiersten Kraus nearly earned herself another triple-double as she posted 23 assists, 12 digs and nine kills. She also had just three hitting errors in the match and finished with a .316 hitting percentage. Freshman setter Mary Kate Mulvaney dished out a team-high 24 assists while digging up nine balls. Senior libero Caroline Chambers led the backline with a team-best 21 digs while also handing out four assists.
 
The Mocs hit .317 as a team while holding NSU to .209. The Mocs edged the Sharks in blocks 8-7 and had nine more digs at 71-62. NSU had the advantage at the service line with eight team aces compared to the Mocs' two.
 
FSC won the opening two sets rather handily at 25-19 and 25-16 but the Sharks came out swinging in the third. After taking an early 6-0 lead the Sharks went on to take the period 25-16. The fourth set was the tightest of all the periods. The set was tight throughout but a late 4-1 run by the Mocs gave FSC match point at 24-22. The Sharks were able to fight off two match points to tie the set at 24-24, but a Petermann kill followed by a setting error by the Sharks ended the set and match at 26-24.
 
Florida Southern will be back in action tomorrow afternoon, Nov. 4, at 4 p.m. as the Mocs travel to Palm Beach Atlantic for another SSC match-up. 
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