MELBOURNE, Fla. (Volleyball) – With the 2015 regular season coming to an end, Florida Tech will be looking to send off the seniors on a high note when it hosts Barry on Friday and Palm Beach Atlantic on Saturday for Senior Night at the Clemente Center.
The Panthers (13-14, 4-11 SSC) are just over a week removed from knocking off No. 17 Florida Southern at home on Nov. 10 in front of a packed house on Greek Night. It was FIT's first victory over a ranked opponent since 2010, and the first over a Top 20 team since the 2005 campaign.
However, FIT was unable to pull off another upset over a ranked Sunshine State Conference opponent two days later, falling at No. 8 Tampa 3-1.
Several Panthers had impressive showings against the upper echelon of the SSC. Kim Juriga tied her season-high with 15 kills on .542 hitting, to go along with three blocks and two digs against the Mocs, while Becca Bower collected a season-high 24 digs and four assists versus FSC.
At the net, Alea Hamm finished with two strong performances for the week, totaling 20 kills and eight blocks. Kiersten Rosa had the best week of her young career against the elite competition. The freshman recorded a season-high seven kills, 30 assists and eight digs versus FSC, and followed that up with a seven kill, 19 assist, four dig and two block performance against UT.
FIT will hope to receive the same contribution this weekend, when it hosts the Bucs and Sailfish.
Barry (13-11, 7-7 SSC) got the best of the Panthers in their previous meeting this season. The Bucs defeated FIT 3-1 on Oct. 24 in Miami Shores, Florida.
BU dropped a 3-1 result to Rollins on Saturday. The Bucs were held to an attack percentage of .132 and 26 hitting errors, while also collecting eight service mishaps. Kaitlin Drake was one of three players to record double-digit kills for BU, registering 16 in addition to 10 digs. Ivana Didanovic and Laine Cielena recorded 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Jasmine Serna ended with a match-high 43 assists.
Entering as the No. 9 team in the land, PBA has won 15 straight matches, with their last defeat coming on Oct. 3 against then No. 2 Tampa. The Sailfish were victorious in their last outing against FIT, sweeping the Panthers in straight sets on Oct. 23 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The Sailfish beat Embry-Riddle 3-0 in their previous contest on Saturday. Ally Rohn paced her team with 10 kills , 18 assists and eight digs, while her sister, Faith, also notched 10 kills to go along with nine digs and three service aces. Rachael Holehouse led all players with 20 digs and four other Sailfish combined for 14 total blocks against the Eagles.
Florida Tech's match against Barry will begin at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, while its contest with PBA is set to start at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Friday's match will be a “White Out”, with the first 200 fans receiving a white out T-shirt. Saturday is the Panthers' Senior Night as well as a “Black Out”, with the first 200 fans receiving a black out T-shirt.
Fans can access live coverage for both of the Panthers' matchups this weekend via FloridaTechSports.com/live.
