Tampa Spartans sweep Saint Leo Lions in region final, advance in Division II volleyball

TAMPA — In an all-Sunshine State Conference volleyball final, host Tampa defeated Saint Leo 3-0 Saturday to win the Division II South Region.

SSC player of the year Melissa Vanderhall had 18 kills to lead the Spartans (31-2), who won 25-23, 25-20,25-19.

Tampa, ranked seventh in the AVCA coaches' poll, advances to the NCAA quarterfinals, Dec. 3-5 at a site to be determined.

Bruna Rocha had 12 kills to lead 12th-ranked Saint Leo (31-4), the regular-season league co-champion with UT.

USF OUT: The Bulls lost to No. 2 seed Cincinnati in straight sets (25-22, 25-22, 25-17) in the semifinals of the Big East tournament in Louisville, Ky. Marcela Gurgel led USF with 11 kills. The Bulls host UCF on Wednesday to end their regular season.

FSU IN TOURNEY: Florida State clinched the ACC title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, beating visiting Boston College 3-0 late Friday.

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SOCCER: Tampa, which hosts the Division II men's semifinals and final next month, fell one step short of playing in them, losing 1-0 to Lees-McRae in the quarterfinals in Banner Elk, N.C. The Spartans (17-3-1) gave up a goal just a minute into the match.

"This was a very good Lees-McRae team," UT coach Adrian Bush told tampaspartans.com. "They scored a fantastic goal and really did a good job of frustrating our attack all night."

CROSS COUNTRY: Tampa finished 10th of 24 teams at the Division II women's national championship meet in Evansville, Ind. Dara Fox was the top Spartan, covering the 6K course in 22 minutes, 21.9 seconds. Adams State of Alamosa, Colo., won the team title.