Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 MELBOURNE, Fla. (Volleyball) – Florida Tech (4-1, 0-0 SSC) kicked off its home slate this weekend with a bang as it hosted the Panther Invitational. The Panthers faced the Albany State Rams and the Columbus State Cougars in the opening day of the event, making quick work of both teams in straight sets.  

The Panthers swept the Rams (0-4) with set scores of (25-17, 25-20, 25-17). Upperclassmen certainly paved the way for FIT's victory in this one. Senior Kim Juriga led all Panthers with 10 kills to go along with her four block assists. Fellow senior Alea Hamm and freshman Olivia Hersey also excelled at the net, each finishing with seven kills in the match. Furthermore, Hamm was credited with a team-high five block assists against the Rams.

Florida Tech's defense appeared much-improved versus Albany State as well. The Panthers finished with 12 total blocks and held the Rams to an attack percentage of .012, while also forcing them into a total of 31 errors in the match.

In FIT's second bout of the day, just like the first, the Panthers swept Columbus State (0-6) in straight sets (25-20, 25-17, 25-8). Hamm paced the Panther offense with a game-high 11 kills in addition to one solo block and two block assists. Senior Marilyn Dick chipped in with eight kills and an impressive 10 digs in the victory. Juriga and Hersey repeated their potency against Albany State, each finishing with seven kills and a combined five blocks.

In total the Panthers notched 40 kills and out-blocked the Cougars 17-3.

Senior Ashtin Truesdale continues to drive the Panthers' fast-pace offense, finishing with 24 assists against the Rams and 28 assists versus the Cougars. Her performance on Friday now gives Truesdale a total of 135 assists in the team's first five contests of the season.

“I'm really proud of the team as we went 2-0 on the day today,” stated head coach Amy O'Brien. “In the first match against Albany State we did not play as clean as we had hoped. We knew we needed to change a couple of things before we faced Columbus State. The girls really responded and came out strong against Columbus State, swinging away and being aggressive. It really made a difference in the atmosphere around the court.”

“Our middles did a fantastic job against Columbus State,” O'Brien continued. “Alea Hamm hit a .429 and Olivia Hersey hit a .353, which is above and beyond what our expectations are for them. Overall, we had 17 blocks to their two, so we are doing a great job offensively and defensively at the net.”


A complete list of games and results from Friday can be found below.

11 a.m.      Albany State def. Puerto Rico-Mayaguez (25-19, 25-5, 25-9)
1 p.m.        Lynn def. Columbus State (25-21, 25-22, 25-17)
3 p.m.        Florida Tech def. Albany State (25-17, 25-20, 25-17)
5 p.m.        Lynn def. Puerto Rico-Mayaguez (25-18, 25-22, 25-23)
7 p.m.        Florida Tech def. Columbus State (25-20, 25-17, 25-8)

Taking a look at Saturday's action, Columbus State opens against Albany State at 9 a.m. ET before the Rams face Lynn at 11 a.m. Puerto Rico-Mayaguez will meet Columbus State in the 1 p.m. contest. FIT closes out the Panther Invitational with the 3 p.m. match against Puerto Rico-Mayaguez.

“We are going to need to continue our high intensity heading into a tough matchup with Puerto Rico-Mayaguez tomorrow,” exclaimed O'Brien. “They are a great team and really scrappy. Our girls will need to have the same motivation and strong performance against them.”

Live video and stats will be available for all of Saturday's matches at FloridaTechSports.com/live.