WEEKEND PREVIEW: #4 Tampa Opens up Conference Play on Friday

Week 3

Friday, 7 p.m. vs. Eckerd

Saturday, 4 p.m. at Florida Southern 

#4 Tampa

• The Spartans aim to carry on the momentum after their two successful tournament outings at home this weekend as they open conference play with familiar in-state rivals, Eckerd and Florida Southern. Playing almost perfectly, the Spartans have only conceded two sets across six matches, with an impressive 14 kills per game. Jenna Davis, Mackenzie Dufresne, and Rachel Gregg all have a hitting percentage over .415. Last season, the Spartans faired well with conference play, winning 17 of 20 matches (85%), splitting with Eckerd and sweeping Florida Southern.

Eckerd

• Having been voted 5th in the SSC preseason poll, the Tritons are now the only team besides the Spartans who remain undefeated in the conference, with 7 victories thus far. Similar to Tampa, Eckerd has also played in two out-of-conference tournaments, the Emmanuel Tournament and the NSU Invitational, winning both. Eckerd remains unranked but did receive the most votes of the teams that were left out of the top 25. The Tritons split their two matches with the Spartans last year, having lost a game in Tampa, and winning at home, in St. Petersburg.

Florida Southern

• After receiving votes in the AVCA preseason poll, but remaining unranked, the Mocs have started this season quite well with 5 wins and only 1 loss. The FCS Volleyball Classic was hosted by Florida Southern this year and the Mocs won 2 of their games with the third game being cancelled. The Mocs then traveled up to the University of Indianapolis Invitational where they won 3 of 4 games, only falling to McKendree. Florida Southern also received votes toward the AVCA top 25 poll. The Mocs went 0-2 against the Spartans last season.