Volleyball Opens Final Week with Victory

LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern College volleyball team opened up action in the final week of the 2024 regular season by hosting Saint Leo University Tuesday night. The Mocs jumped all over the visiting Lions taking the opening set in dominating fashion, 25-8. The Lions came back to even the match in the second with a 25-15 win before Florida Southern closed out the match with 25-13 and 25-19 victories.
 
The win pushes the Moccasins' record to 14-12 on the season including 8-10 in Sunshine State Conference play. The Lions fell to 5-21 overall while moving to just 1-17 in league play.
 
The dynamic duo of seniors Sandra Sasaki and Madison Fowler once again led the way for the Mocs. The pair combined for 23 kills and just two hitting errors. Sasaki posted a team-best 12 kills on 23 swings with one error for an impressive .478 hitting percentage. She also added two service aces and eight digs to her totals. Fowler picked up 11 kills on just 19 swings with one error for a team-best .526 hitting percentage. She also added five blocks including four solo stops.
 
Graduate student Mackenzie Petermann and senior Kiersten Kraus each finished with eight kills in the victory. Petermann added 12 digs, a service ace and a solo block while Kraus had two blocks and two digs. Senior Zoe Lowe chipped in six kills as well while picking up a pair of blocks.
 
Sophomore setter Mary Kate Mulvaney dished out 24 assists while posting a career-best six service aces, surpassing her previous high of four which she had once this season and once last season. Freshman setter Mallory Baruch chipped in 13 assists, two digs and a service ace.
 
As a team, the Mocs hit .330 which is the second-highest hitting percentage this season for the Mocs behind their .388 performance at Saint Leo last week. The Mocs held the Lions to just a .097 hitting percentage, just two teams this season have hit worst against the Mocs and that was Clarion (.067) and Valdosta State (.077).
 
The Mocs took advantage of the service line, posting 11 service aces compared to Saint Leo's six. FSC also won the blocking battle 9-3, but lost in digs 50-45.
 
The Mocs opened the match on a 10-2 run and never looked back. The lead continued to grow until a Fowler solo block ended the opening set, 25-8. The second set was almost a complete opposite of the first as the Lions opened with a 7-2 run of their own. The Moccasins were never able to catch up and eventually fell 25-15. The third set was very similar to the first as the Mocs pulled away early and just continued to grow their lead the rest of the way eventually taking a 25-13 victory.
 
The fourth and final set looked to be going in SLU's favor as the Lions opened the set with an 8-3 run. The Mocs answered and tied the set at 9-9 before eventually capturing their first lead of the period at 13-12. The set would remain tight until a 7-2 run by the Mocs opened up a 21-17 lead for the hosts. After a service error gave the Lions their 18^th point of the set, the Mocs scored four of the final five points to win the match 25-19.
 
FSC will return to action this Friday, Nov. 22 as the Mocs host Florida Tech for a 7 p.m. match.
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