Box Score MELBOURNE, Fla. (Volleyball) – Florida Tech volleyball (6-3, 1-1 SSC) was dealt its first home loss of the 2015 season in a thrilling Sunshine State Conference Friday night bout at the Clemente Center. Up against a talented Nova Southeastern (10-1, 3-0 SSC) squad, the Panthers came up just a few points shy of an upset victory, falling to the Sharks in five exhilarating sets, (25-21, 24-26, 25-23, 23-25, 11-15).

FIT opened up the contest by jumping out to a 4-0 lead early in the first set. The Panthers increased the advantage to 17-10, but the Sharks closed the deficit to three at 22-19 before Florida Tech finished off the final points and took the opening set following a kill by senior Ashtin Truesdale.

The second stanza featured an NSU lead through the first 27 points of the set until FIT took the lead 15-14 on a kill by Truesdale. With the score tied at 24-24, after a kill by senior Kim Juriga, the Sharks held their line and blocked the Panthers' next two attempts to capture the second set and tie the match at 1-1.

Neither team could muster enough momentum to pull away in the third set, as no lead grew more than four points. It looked as though Nova Southeastern would pull away after taking a 23-21 lead off a Panther service error but Florida Tech responded with four consecutive scores to take the third set and go up 2-1 in the match.

Just like the third, the two foes went neck-and-neck in the fourth set. After exchanging points throughout the game, the Panthers found themselves with a chance to win the set with the match tied at 23-23 following an attack by senior Alea Hamm. However, the Sharks called a timeout and gained enough composure to squeak by FIT in the set 25-23.

In the fifth and final set, the Panthers found themselves off to a strong start up 4-1. It did not last long, though, as NSU tied the score at four all before taking a 12-10 advantage forcing an FIT timeout. The Panthers were able to force an attack error on the next rally but it was not enough as Florida Tech surrendered the final three points of the match.

This competition between the two SSC rivals included 22 lead changes and 34 ties.

Hamm led the FIT attack with 13 kills, while senior Marilyn Dick and freshman Olivia Hersey added nine kills each. Freshman Abigael Brenke notched eight kills for the Panthers. Truesdale totaled 35 assists and freshman Kiersten Rosa dished out 12 more in the match. Sophomore libero Becca Bower finished with 19 digs along the back line.

FIT returns to the Clemente Center on Saturday, Sept. 26 for an SSC contest against Lynn at 4 p.m. ET. Live video and stats will be available for the Panthers' matchup at FloridaTechSports.com/live.