SAINT LEO, Fla. - On Friday night, No.23 Saint Leo (21-6, SSC 15-4) topped Florida Tech (9-16, SSC 4-15) in three straight sets at the Marion Bowman Activities Center.

Although holding a match-best four service aces, the Panthers were held to a .138 hitting percentage, collecting 36 kills as a team. In the outing, FIT counted 46 digs, four blocks and 34 assists.
Junior Kiersten Rosa reached her 12th double-double of the season, as she added 24 assists to 10 digs. The Mims native also grabbed two block assists and three kills.

Junior Olivia Hersey led the offense with a team-best eight kills on a team-high .350 clip, closely followed by Kelly Germain with seven. Fellow junior Tania Kottke and senior Samantha Reeves added six kills apiece to the Panthers total.

In the back rows, sophomore Kyra Atkinson and senior Nicole Fortuna notched 11 and 10 digs respectively.

Opening the match, the Panthers dueled throughout the entire set, forcing the Lions to go over the 25-point mark. After an early six-point lead by Saint Leo, Florida Tech rallied back knocking down seven straight points to tie the game at 20-20. From there, FIT took a three-point run to overlap the Lions 23-20. However, the Lions bounced back and tied the score at 26 before reeling off two consecutive kills to close the first stanza, 28-26.

In the second set, the Lions set the pace early on, notching six back-to-back points. Florida Tech struggled to breach through the net, and eventually dropped the set, 25-15.

Returning from intermission trailing by two sets, the Crimson and Gray found some momentum on a kill by Kottke and a Saint Leo error, which put FIT ahead 15-13. However, the remainder of the set hosted nine ties and nine lead changes that saw the Lions take a four-point stretch to cast the Panthers aside and close the match, 25-21.

Tomorrow, Florida Tech will conclude the 2017 season with the last conference match against the Eckerd Tritons at 6 p.m. ET.

For live coverage of the event, fans can access FloridaTechSports.com.