MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Florida Southern College volleyball team traveled to Melbourne, Fla. Saturday afternoon to take on the Florida Tech Panthers who were coming off a historic win over nationally-ranked Tampa the night before. The Panthers came out strong and took a decisive opening set before the Moccasins battled back to take the second. FT went on to claim the victory with wins in the third and fourth sets, 3-1.
The loss is the fifth in the last six matches for the Mocs since the lengthy hurricane delay in the middle of the season. FSC is now 9-7 on the season including 3-5 in the league play. The Panthers, who have not had eight wins in Sunshine State Conference play since 2001, are two SSC wins away from tying their program record for SSC wins in a season which is 10 and set back in 1999. The Panthers are now 14-5 on the year and an impressive 8-2 in league play.
Senior
Zoe Lowe was the lone Moccasin hitter to finish in double digits with 14 kills on just 24 swings and four errors for a team-best .417 hitting percentage. Graduate student
Mackenzie Petermann and senior
Sandra Sasaki each added eight kills to the effort while senior
Kiersten Kraus chipped in seven. Kraus added team-highs in assists (20) and blocks (4) while collecting seven digs.
Graduate student libero
Caroline Chambers led the backline with 16 digs while sophomore setter
Mary Kate Mulvaney added 10 along with 15 assists for a double-double. Freshman
Bali Coles also had a nice performance in the backrow with seven digs.
The Mocs struggled at the service line against the Panthers as FSC had five service aces along with 15 errors. Two different Mocs posted five service errors in the match while the Panthers had just seven as a team. Florida Tech was also able to produce 10 service aces. A total of 25 of Florida Tech's points came at the service line with 10 aces and 15 FSC errors.
Cordelia Patelli led the FT effort with 18 kills and 12 digs. She was the lone Panther in double-figures.
FSC hit .176 for the match including just .117 in the three sets which the Mocs lost while the Panthers hit for a .223 clip.
The opening set was back-and-forth early until the Panthers used a 13-5 run to close out the set 25-15. The second set was much like the first but it was the Mocs who made the late run as FSC scored nine of the final 11 points of the set to erase a deficit and win the period 25-20. The third set looked to be completely in Florida Tech's control at 15-10 but the Mocs responded with a 6-0 run including four errors by the Panthers to take a 16-15 lead. The Panthers immediately responded with a run of their own as they scored 10 of the next 14 points to close the set 25-20. The fourth and final set saw the Panthers get up early and keep the Mocs at bay down the stretch. The Panthers went on to take the set and match 25-18.
The Mocs will return to Lakeland to prepare for their next road contest at Eckerd on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. The match is a rescheduled match from the Sept. 28 match which was postponed due to Hurricane Helene.
