MELBOURNE, Fla. (Volleyball) – Florida Tech volleyball (2-1, 0-0
SSC) is set to host the Panther Invitational this weekend, Sept. 11-12,
welcoming a number of quality south region opponents to the Clemente
Center for a round-robin event.
The Panthers performed well in their opening weekend of the season at
the Flagler Invitational in St. Augustine, Fla. FIT opened with a 3-0
victory against Dominican (N.Y.) before also knocking off a talented
Anderson (S.C.) squad in straight sets. In the Panthers' final match
versus host Flagler, Florida Tech showed relentless effort throughout
but fell to the Saints 3-1.
Seniors
Alea Hamm and
Kim Juriga have been dominant at the
net so far for the Panthers, registering 27 and 26 kills over the first
three matches, respectively. Classmate
Ashtin Truesdale will be
looked upon to continue setting the pace of the offense after dishing
out an admirable 83 assists to go along with a team-leading eight
service aces. Freshman
Olivia Hersey was also impressive last weekend, finishing with 18 kills and a team-high 11 total blocks.
“Last weekend at the Flagler Invitational, we showed a lot of strengths offensively and on the block,” stated head coach
Amy O'Brien.
“I'm very proud of the team's effort. Going into the Panther
Invitational, we've put a lot of work in on our serving. We really want
to make sure that we do a better job hitting our points around the
court. We want to see more aces than errors this weekend. It's important
that we continue to play well as a team and bring that enthusiasm,
fight and drive we showed last weekend to all three matches this
weekend.”
This year's Panther Invitational features host Florida Tech, Albany
State, Columbus State, SSC foe Lynn and Puerto Rico-Mayaguez. The Albany
State Rams face the Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Bulldogs in the opening match
of the invitational on Friday at 11 a.m. ET.
O'Brien and the rest of the team have been looking forward to putting on the Panther Invitational all offseason.
“We are super excited about hosting this weekend,” exclaimed O'Brien.
“We haven't hosted an event since 2009 so it's nice to be able to stay
at home and get comfortable on our home court. How we feel on our floor
can be a key factor as we move farther into our schedule. It's great to
get the student and local fan support early in the season as well as
give our girls' families a chance to watch them play.”
FIT is set to play the Rams (0-2) and the Columbus State Cougars (0-4)
on Friday at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively. On Saturday the Panthers
take on the Bulldogs at 3 p.m. in the final match of the event.
Live video and stats will be provided for each match of the Panther Invitational at FloridaTechSports.com/live.
