MELBOURNE, Fla. (Volleyball) – There was a sea of pink in the crowd at the Clemente Center for Florida Tech volleyball's annual Breast Cancer Awareness Match. The Panthers (7-7, 2-5 SSC) hoped the home court advantage would guide them to an upset over SSC foe No. 2 Tampa (13-3, 6-0 SSC), however, the Spartans were too much for the Panthers, securing the match in four sets (25-19, 20-25, 25-20, 26-24).

Senior Kim Juriga earned a double-double in the loss, finishing with 10 kills and 12 digs. Fellow senior Alea Hamm and junior Jenna Schaffer added 11 kills each in the match. Senior Marilyn Dick recorded nine kills and 11 digs, while freshman Olivia Hersey added nine more kills.

In the middle, senior Ashtin Truesdale dished out a match-high 42 assists to go along with her 12 digs and three total blocks. Sophomore Becca Bower registered a match-high 20 digs for the Panthers.

For the Spartans, Jessica Wagner led the way with a match-high 18 kills and Berkley Whaley added 17 kills and 11 digs. Megan Heffron and Allee Stelogeannis recorded 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Gina Clarke notched 26 assists for the Spartans.

Florida Tech hit .264 in the contest compared to .309 from Tampa. The Panthers finished ahead in the blocks department 6-1 and forced the Spartans into 18 attacking errors.

FIT next heads to Carrollton, Georgia for the Gulf South Conference-Sunshine State Conference Crossover on Oct. 16-17. Opponents for the Panthers will be determined based on FIT's current position in the conference standings.

If available, live coverage can be accessed at FloridaTechSports.com.