No. 1 Tampa Downs Rival No. 24 Florida Southern In A Sweep

TAMPA, Fla. - Playing in front of a loud home crowd, the No. 1 University of Tampa Spartans knocked off the No. 24 Florida Southern College Moccasins 3-0 on Wednesday night. 584 fans watched Tampa improve to 10-2 overall and 2-0 in the Sunshine State Conference, while Florida Southern drops to 9-2 and 2-1.

Tampa came in having won its last five matches, four by sweep. UT found itself in an early 2-0 hole to open the match, but capitalized on four straight errors by the Moccasins to take the lead. The Spartans would not relinquish the advantage and slowly pulled away to win 25-17. Melissa Vanderhall slammed five kills in the set, along with four from Kaleigh Cunningham and Jessica Yingling.

The second frame saw a similar start with UT down early, but fighting back to take the lead. FSC was unable to pull the game to within three as Tampa built a six point advantage to win 25-19.

Then in the final set, the Moccasins held an 11-10 lead when Cunningham tied the game with a kill. Florida Southern then committed two attack errors that got Tampa out front for good as it went on to complete the sweep with a 25-19 victory. Senior Sam Macks tallied six kills in the frame on seven attempts.

Macks finished the match tied with Vanderhall for the team lead in kills with 10, and hit at a blistering .692 attack percentage. Cunningham tallied nine kills at a .389 clip and Danielle Selkridge converted six kills in nine swings.

Senior setter Meghan Sherman registered her fifth double-double of the season, handing out 38 assists and recording 11 digs. Sherman helped pace the Tampa offense to a .316 hitting percentage, while the Spartans limited their rivals to a .158 mark.

Libero Julie Howlett turned in a match-high 13 digs while Florida Southern's Anne Niebuhr finished with 12.

The Spartans hit the road this Saturday to face Rollins College in a 4 p.m. match. Fans can follow along with live stats provided through tampaspartans.com or follow the Spartans on Twitter at twitter.com/utspartans.