MELBOURNE, FLA. – The Florida Tech Panthers were once led by freshman Cordelia Kearns who recorded an impressive .435 hitting percentage with 13 kills against the No.3 Tampa Spartans in SSC Action Friday night.

FINAL: Florida Tech 1, (No.3) Tampa 3
Records: Florida Tech (5-10, 1-6 SSC), (No.3) Tampa (14-0, 8-0 SSC)
Locations: Clemente Center | Melbourne, Fla.

STATS OF THE MATCH:

First Set:

• Tampa and the Panthers battled it out to start the match as both sides fought neck and neck to an 8-7 Spartan led to begin the set.
• Trailing by two at 11-9, Tech brought the set back to within one at 11-10, thanks to a service ace from Jeanne Hassoun.
• Hayley Dillon of Tampa started a three-point streak for the Spartans as they pulled ahead 16-11.
• One kill from Jenna Davis and two from Kalli Cors extended Tampa's lead to 20-15.
• The Spartans finished the set scoring five of the final seven points to win the set 25-17 and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
• Nathaly Perez closed out the set with back-to-back kills for the 24^th and 25^th points of the set.

 
Second Set:

• Perez picked up where she left off scoring the first three points of the second set to record five kills in a row as Tampa jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
• Cordelia Kearns and  María Jesús Muñoz helped bring tech back to within two points but still trailed 7-5.
• Down by four, 11-7, errors from Tampa and kills from Antia Vallecas Rodriguez and Lexi Lueger brought Tech's deficit to just one, 11-10.
• With the help of kills from Jenna Davis, Tampa's lead improved to 15-11 before a service error from Tampa and service ace From Tech's Chiara Patelli brought the score to 15-13, Spartans.
• Kills from Courtney Capar and Devyn Glassgold put Tech down by just one yet again.
• Two kills from Cors saw Tampa's lead jump out to 21-17.
• Three of the next five points were rewarded to the Panthers with kills coming from Vallecas Rodriguez and Patelli as the Panthers were down by two 22-20.
• Cors and Zoey Seput helped close out the set as Tampa would win 25-20 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.

 
Third Set:

• Back and forth was how the third set started, as the Spartans looked to pull ahead at 6-3, the Panthers stormed back to tie the set 6-6.
• The comeback effort came thanks to kills from Cordelia Kearns and Capar.
• Tech would go on to tie the set again at 8-8 and 11.
• With the set tied 12-12, a kill from Muñoz would give the Panthers their first lead of the match, 13-12, and later extend its lead 14-12.
• Five points in a row off errors from the Panthers saw the Spartans take advantage and lead 17-14.
• Four points in a row with the help of kills from Muñoz and Kearns tied the set 17-17 and again 18-18.
• two kills from Kearns and two attack errors by the Spartans brought Tech's lead to 23-19.
• A kill from Vallecas Rodriguez followed by an attack error from Cors helped secure Tech's third set victory by a score of 25-21 bringing the number three team in the country to a third set.

 
 
Fourth Set:

• A 7-3 Tampa lead was how the fourth set began led by kills from Mackenzie Dufresne and Tess Schrenger.
• A three-point run from the Panthers brought their deficit to within one, trailing 9-8 after three errors in a row from the Spartans.
• Three kills from Vallecas Rodriguez and Patelli would bring tech down by just one once again, 13-12.
• A seven-to-one run by Tampa would see the Spartan's lead grow to 19-13 highlighted by a kill from Davis.
• Two kills from Dufresne would increase Tampa's lead to 21-16
•  Four of the next five points would be rewarded to the Spartans with Davis tallying the final kill of the match as the Spartans would take the fourth set 25-17 and win the match 3-1.

NOTABLE PANTHERS:

• In the match, Kenzie Delacher recorded her seventh double-double of the season and the 27^th of her career.
• Muñoz tallied her fifth double-double of the season.
• Freshman Kearns was Tech's offensive leader tonight, recording 13 kills with three errors in 23 attempts for an impressive .435 hitting percentage.
• Delacher and Hassoun each recorded 21 set assists.
• Lillian Muszynski tallied two solo blocks for Tech.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• Tech falls to 0-92 against the Spartans in the all-time series record.
• Winning a set tonight is the Panthers' first set win against Tampa since October 11, 2019.
• Tech is just the fifth school this season to win a set over the No.3 team in the nation.
• The Spartans are now 42-6 in set wins to losses this season after Techs set win.
• In the stat line, Tampa won points (74-58), kills (59-52), blocks (13-2) and just edged Tech in digs (58-57), and assists (53-50).
• Tech managed to out-serve the Spartans 4-2.

 
UP NEXT:
Tech will next look to host Florida Southern College on Saturday, October 7^th at 4:00 PM for a blackout at the Clemente Center.

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