LAKELAND, Fla. - On Saturday afternoon, Florida Tech (9-15, SSC 4-14) suffered a 3-0 decision to No. 24 Florida Southern (22-6, SSC 16-1) at Jenkins Field House.
In the weekend outing, the Panthers hit a .216 on 39 kills, collected four blocks, 46 digs, three service aces and 38 assists.
Leading the Crimson and Gray offense, senior Samantha Reeves and junior Olivia Hersey notched nine kills apiece, with Reeves hitting a team-best .571 and Hersey recording a .364 hitting percentage.
Junior Kelly Germain pitched in with eight kills on a .143 clip, while fellow junior Tania Kottke added seven to the Panthers total.
Junior Kiersten Rosa tallied her 12th double-double of the season, as she combined 30 assists with10 digs. With her 632 assists, Rosa confirms her seventh spot among the SSC leaderboard, averaging 8.21 assists per set.
Patrolling the Florida Tech defense, Kyra Atkinson picked up 12 digs, closely followed by Rosa with 10. Sophomore Sheila Villagrasa and freshman Roxana Carpio aided the team with five digs each.
The Crimson and Gray jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but the Mocs quickly tied the set at 3-3. Trailing by three, two kills from Germain and one from Rosa shortened the gap at 7-6. The Panthers offense kept rolling, and eventually overlapped the home team 23-20. However, the Mocs notched a five-point streak and closed the set, 25-23
In the second set, the squads traded three ties and three lead changes early on in the stanza, until the Mocs took three back-to-back points to move ahead 15-10. Although tying Florida Southern with 15 kills, the Crimson and Gray were held to a .353 clip opposed to the Mocs .412, and eventually dropped the set 25-20.
Returning from intermission trailing by two, kills from Kottke, Hersey and Germain pushed the Panthers ahead, 7-4. However, the Mocs quickly turned the score around to take the lead, 8-7. From there, the Lakeland lineup rode on a nine-point advantage to close the match 25-16.
On Friday, Nov. 17, Florida Tech will travel to Saint Leo to face the Lions at 7 p.m. ET.
For further info, please visit FloridaTechSports.com.
