MELBOURNE, Fla. – Florida Tech Panthers volleyball took the victory over the Lynn University Fighting Knights, handing them their first home loss of the season.

FINAL: Florida Tech 3, Palm Beach 2
Records: Florida Tech (17-5, 11-2 SSC) Lynn University (20-2, 10-2 SSC)
Locations: Count and Countess De Hoernle Sports and Cultural Center | Boca Raton, FL

STATS OF THE MATCH:

First Set:

• The Fighting Knights got things started as what was a free point on behalf of the Panthers, 0-1.
• However, Tech would answer right back with a point of their own thanks to Irene Kitson, 1-1.
• It would be the Knights who build an early lead in the set via three straight kills 1-4.
• Tech would answer back with a (3-2) run led by Cordelia Kearns with two kills, 5-6.
• The Panthers would then rattle off a (4-1) run and take their first lead of the set in the process, 9-7.
• The Knights would reestablish themselves still in the battle with a (1-3) run to tie things up at 10-10.
• As expected, the contest would stay extremely close as each team would respond to the other's attacks, with the max lead reaching two points on both sides.
• The exchange would go 12-10, 12-12, 14-14, and 15-17 before a big shift by the Fighting Knights.
• Lynn would explode to a massive six-point lead 16-22, which seemed to be an early sign of a set loss.
• The Panthers answered the challenge and would slowly claw back into this with the help of a couple of errors by the Knights and kills from Tessa Mati and Cordelia Kearns 21-24.
• Tech would finish the set in dominant fashion; a Kearns kill, an error from the Knights, a kill from Lilian Muszynski, another error from the Knights, and to finish the comeback, an ace from Chiara Patelli and the final error from the Knights to give the set win to the Panthers 26-24

Second Set:

• Looking to build from the comeback in set one, the Panthers would strike first, taking the lead 1-0, to which the Knights would answer with two of their own, 1-2.
• Tech would then deploy their first run of the set with a (4-0) stretch with four straight kills, 5-2.
• The lead would stay at three for the Panthers early: 6-3, 8-5, 9-6, and lastly, 12-9 before the Knights would flip the script and rattle a (5-0) run to take the lead at 12-13.
• From this point on, there would be no separation from either team as every (2-1) run for one side would be returned by the other.
• The lead would go as follows; 13-15, 16-15, 17-17, 19-19, 21-21 and 23-22 before any separation and not in favor of the Panthers.
• It would be the Knights who would best Tech and capture the set win with a kill and two aces to close it out.
• Cordelia Kearns would leave a footprint on this set with nine kills for the Panthers.

Third Set:

•  A game-defining set for both teams and the Knights would strike first, 0-1.
• Tech would respond with a (4-1) run to start their scoring, 4-2.
• The Panthers would then deliver another run this time (5-1) and start to pull away, 9-3.
•  And again, the Panthers would deliver another onslaught of scoring (6-3), just having everything going their way via blocks, kills, errors by the knights, and an ace from Kari Voelstad Bogan, 15-6.
• Tech continued to pour it on with another (5-1) run to all but put things away, 20-7.
•  Both teams would go to their reserves at this point, and the Panthers would extend their lead to 23-9.
• The Knights would shuffle out five more points, outscoring the Panthers, but it would be the Panthers who take the victory in this one after a kill from Jazzy Innis and a service error from the Knights to close this set. (25-14)

Fourth Set

•  The Knights came out aggressive after the dominating set 3 loss and started the set off up 0-3 over the Panthers before they would get their first point.
•  In what seemed like a total flip, it would be the Panthers on the wrong side of this one early down (3-9).
• The Knights would then deliver another (2-5) run on the Panthers, 5-14.
• The Panthers would not be able to get much going the rest of the way in this one and would be outscored 5-10, lose the set 15-25 and bring the match to a tie, 2-2

Fifth Set

• Tech came out with lightning to begin the final set, starting ahead 3-0 thanks to an error and Kearns delivering two kills.
•  The Panthers would push their lead up 6-3 after two kills from Mati & Kearns, but the Knights would respond with a (0-6) run to take the lead away, three of which points were errors by the Panthers, 6-9.
• It would be a dog fight the rest of the way through as Tech would return a (4-1) to tie things at 11-11.
• Each team would respond to the other to the point that both teams would again tie at the decisive point line 15-15 and would require more play to decide the victor.
•  Each team would face elimination as the stakes got higher and higher, and with the teams tied at 17, it would be the Panthers taking the final two points via kills from Mati and Patelli to bring the victory to Tech.

NOTABLE PANTHERS:

•  Cordelia Kearns led the Panthers in Kills with 28 (season high) and digs with 19, her 16th double-double of the season.
• Lilian Muszynski led the Panthers defense with eight blocks.
• Kenzie Delacher finished second for Tech with 15 digs but led the team in assists with 33.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• Kenzie Delacher hit the 2,000-assist mark
• Kari Voelstad Bogan moves into the top 10 in career digs
• The Panthers are 10-16 now all-time at Lynn, with this their first win in Boca Raton since a five-set thriller on September 28, 2017.
•  Tech achieves their first season sweep of Lynn since 2007 and delivers the Knights their first home loss of the season.
• With the win, Tech recorded a new program record of 11.
   

UP NEXT: The Panthers will have some much-needed time off before returning home and hosting No.24 Barry University on November 7th at 7pm.

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