TAMPA, Fla. (Volleyball) – Florida Tech's confidence was at its peak after winning two straight contests, including an upset of Florida Southern on Tuesday, however the team still had to play its best game, and find a lot of luck, in order to knock off the defending national champions on their home court.

Unfortunately luck was not in the Panthers' (13-14, 4-11 SSC) favor on Thursday night, as the Spartans (23-5, 12-1 SSC) convincingly won the opening two sets of the match en route to a four set victory for the Sunshine State Conference leader (25-13, 25-19, 22-25, 25-15).

In her last road match donning the Crimson and Gray, Alea Hamm paced FIT with 11 kills and four blocks. Kiersten Rosa continued her impressive offensive run with seven kills, a team-high 19 assists and two services aces, to go along with four digs and two blocks.

Seniors Kim Juriga and Ashtin Truesdale finished with six and five kills, respectively. Truesdale also recorded 14 assists and nine digs in the match. Jenna Schaffer notched a team-high 11 digs and three blocks.

Three Spartans combined for 41 kills in the contest, including 16 and 14 from Berkley Whaley and Marissa Lisenbee, respectively. Whaley also collected 15 digs to lead her team. Jessica Wagner was almost unstoppable at the net in this one, as she tallied 11 kills on 18 attempts with no errors. Wagner also swatted a match-high six blocks, and Gina Clarke dished out a match-best 48 assists against the Panthers.

The Spartans held FIT to an attack percentage of just .118, while UT converted at a .359 clip on their attempts. Errors really hurt the Panthers' chances as the team racked up 39 total errors in the match, including 24 attacking and nine service mishaps.

FIT is happy to know that its final two matches of the season will be played at the Clemente Center, where the Panthers have garnered an 8-3 record. First up is a Friday, Nov. 20 contest against SSC foe Barry at 7 p.m. ET. The Bucs defeated FIT 3-1 in their previous meeting on Oct. 24 in Miami Shores, Florida.

Fans unable to attend can access live coverage of the Panthers' match at FloridaTechSports.com/live.