MELBOURNE, Fla. (Volleyball) – The Florida Tech volleyball team (2-10, 0-4 SSC) fell to Sunshine State Conference foe, No. 19 Tampa (9-4, 3-2 SSC) Thursday in a highly contested four set match at the Clemente Center.
 
The Spartans took the opening set over the Panthers 25-18. FIT flipped the script on the defending league champs in the second set, winning 25-18 to tie the match at 1-1.
 
The Panthers continued their strong play in the third as they led UT 24-21 late in the set. However, UT answered by scoring the next five points to steal the set 26-24. With momentum on its side, Tampa stymied the Panthers in the fourth 25-16 to garner the 3-1 victory.
 
Kelly Germain paced FIT with 12 kills, while Jenna Schaffer notched a double-double on 10 kills and 11 assists. Heather Bowersox tallied eight kills on a team-high hit rate of 0.312. Olivia Hersey also recorded eight kills to go along with a team-high five total blocks.
 
Kiersten Rosa led all players in assists (38) and digs (18), while Becca Bower and Sheila Villagrasa collected 14 digs apiece.
 
UT's Allee Stelogeannis finished with a match-high 15 kills and 12 digs, while Gen Beaumier added 12 digs on a 0.423 attack percentage. Sammy Mueller and Jen Aprile dished out 26 and 17 assists, respectively, while also recording 10 digs each in the match. Logan Holanchock led the Spartans with 17 digs to go along with six assists and four service aces.
 
Over the four sets, Tampa out hit FIT 0.248-0.145, including an attack rate of 0.375 in the fourth, and recorded more blocks 12-6.
 
Florida Tech is back in action Saturday, Oct. 1 when it hosts SSC opponent Saint Leo at 4 p.m. ET at the Clemente Center. Fans can access live coverage of the action at FloridaTechSports.com/live.