Tampa Volleyball Falls to Rival Florida Southern

TAMPA, Fla. – The University of Tampa Spartans fall to the Florida Southern College Moccasins in three sets, with scores of 27-25, 25-12, and 25-18. The Moccasins move to 12-1in the SSC, while the Spartans fall to 6-7. 

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Florida Southern College 3, University of Tampa 0  (27-25, 25-12, 25-18)
Records: Tampa Spartans (11-13, 6-7 SSC), Florida Southern Moccasins (18-6, 12-1 SSC)
Location: Bob Martinez Athletics Center | Tampa, Fla.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:
Set 1 | After a battle to the end, Florida Southern took the first set 27-25. Freshman Sorrel Houghton came out on fire, with six kills in the first set hitting .308. Following the gun power of Houghton was fellow outside, Nicole Dominguez. Dominguez had four kills in the set, in addition to having two service aces. Right side hitter Nylah Demps also had two service aces and hit .500, with two kills on four attempts. Sammy Mueller quarterbacked the offense with 14 assists, while Kaitlyn Ajmani suited up as liber for UT, picking up five digs.

Set 2 | In the second, not much went right for Tampa. UT could not seem to stop Florida Sothern's offense, in addition to being aced on five separate occasions. In the second set alone, FSC had 11 kills to Tampa's six. Two of Tampa's six kills came from Dominguez, who hit .250 on the game. Taylor Fosler also had two kills in the set for UT, hitting .200 for the Spartans heading into intermission. Coach Chris Catanach subbed freshman setter Melissa Elias into the rotation this set, who logged two assists for Tampa. Additionally, senior Molly McAlvany was moved to libero. McAlvany stated four digs in the set. Florida Southern defeated Tampa 25-12 heading into intermission.

Set 3 | Following intermission, the momentum continued to side with the Moccasins. Once again, McAlvany played libero for UT, leading the team on defense with six digs in the set. Mueller was moved back to being Tampa's primary setter. She logged nine assists in the set, ending the match with a total of 26. In this game, Fosler and Demps tried to ignite a fire on Tampa's side of the net. They each had three kills in the set, hitting 1.000 and .286 respectively. However, once again, FSC's offense was too powerful for UT to handle. The Moccasins had 17 kills in the set to the Spartan's 13. Florida Southern closed out the match with a final set score of 25-18.  

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:
• Tampa leads the all-time series against the Moccasins 72-55. This season the Tampa Spartans fell to the Florida Southern Moccasins in both meetings between the squads.

UP NEXT:
Tampa will continue the 2017 season with a pair of home matches on Friday the 3^rd, and Saturday the 4^th. The match on Friday against the Rollins Tars is slated to start at 7:00 pm, be sure to come out to Bob Martinez Athletics Center to cheer on your Spartans. Saturday, Tampa will battle the No. 6 ranked Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish starting at 4:00 pm.  Live stats and a live video webcast will be provided through www.tampaspartans.com. 

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