LAKELAND, Fla. - The No. 4 University of Tampa Spartans volleyball team (21-3, 10-1 SSC) took down the Florida Southern Moccasins (18-7, 8-4 SSC) in straight sets on Saturday night at the Jenkins Field House. The Spartans earned the series sweep over the Mocs for the second straight season and improve their winning streak to 11 matches.
The two teams battled in a wild first set that featured 14 tie scores and nine lead changes as the Spartans eventually prevailed 27-25. Neither team led by more than three points and Florida Southern held a 24-22 advantage after a tremendous hustle play by Anne Pietkiewicz resulted in a kill. Senior Sam Macks responded with two kills and Tampa benefitted from a Moccasin error to take a brief 25-24 lead. After FSC knotted the set at 25, Melissa Vanderhall slammed home a kill and her and Macks capped the two-point victory with a block.
Set two went a little smoother for the visitors as Tampa found an offensive rhythm and hit .519 for the game to win 25-17. Jessica Yingling connected for five kills on seven swings and did not commit an error. Danielle Selkridge followed with four kills and Julie Howlett led the defensive effort with six digs to help limit the Moccasins to a .200 attack rate.
Tampa completed the sweep with a 25-14 victory in the third frame as the Spartans used a 10-0 run to close the match. Kaleigh Cunningham collected five kills and Vanderhall contributed with four more to finish with a match-best 11. Selkridge tallied 10 kills and added five blocks in the winning effort. It was the first time in eight games that the Spartans notched double-digit figures in blocks with 11 as Macks led the way with five.
Senior setter Meghan Sherman paced the Tampa offense to a .291 hitting percentage with 38 assists and helped out on defense with seven digs. Howlett anchored the back row with a match-high 20 digs and helped keep the Mocs to just a .117 attack percentage. Cunningham finished with the next highest dig total with nine.
Tampa returns home this Tuesday to face Saint Leo at 7 p.m. in the Bob Martinez Sports Center. Live stats will be available through www.tampaspartans.com. Fans may also follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans). UT also offers blAst, a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com.
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