Sports Lowdown

The Florida Tech Volleyball team opened their Sunshine State Conference opener at the Clemente Center on Friday, falling to the Rollins Tars, 3-2. The match kept a couple streaks intact, as Rollins won their seventh straight, while the Panthers suffered their seventh straight loss. The two teams traded wins in the first four games, with Rollins taking game one and three by identical 25-16 scores. The Panthers took game two 30-28 and game four 25-22, before dropping the fifth set, 15-12. Rollins opened a 17-8 lead in the first game with a couple extended runs and the Panthers never recovered. The second game was a typical back-and-forth affair, with the Panthers leading 13-12, before Rollins won the next four points, to take the lead. The Panthers regained the lead with a run of six out of eight points, to regain the lead 25-24. They traded points with the Tars, before winning the final two points and squeaking out the 30-28 victory. Rollins (7-2, 1-0) took control of ...

The Florida Tech Volleyball team went on the road Tuesday to take on Embry-Riddle, in Jacksonville. Coming off a rough weekend that saw them get shutout four times at the Hyatt Place Bash at the beach. The Panthers were hoping to get back on the winning track. Unfortunately, a slow start in game one that saw the Eagles win nine of 11 points in one stretch, led to a 25-11 loss. The Panthers earned a hard fought win in game two, 28-26, but Embry-Riddle won the final two games, leading to a 3-1 victory for the home squad. Game two was back-and-forth game of runs. The Panthers won four out of five points early, to take a 9-5 lead, but the Eagles bounced back with six straight points, to take a 14-12 lead. Florida Tech won six straight late in the match and seven out of eight, to take a 26-25 lead and after trading points, Florida Tech won the final two points they needed to win the game and tie the match 1-1. For the Panthers, it was the first game they won in the last f...

The opening day of the Bash at the Beach was not kind to the Florida Tech Panthers on Friday. The team dropped two matches, both by the score of 3-0. They lost in the morning to McKendree and in the afternoon match to 10 th ranked Washburn. McKendree won 25-15, 25-20 and 25-22 in the first match. Becca Bower had 14 digs in the loss and Olivia Hersey had a double-double on 11 kills and 11 digs. The Bearcats were stout on defense, holding the Panthers to a .162 hit rate. In game one, the Panthers won four out of five points about midway through the match to get the score to 13-11, but the Bearcats reeled off five straight points to end the game.  In game two, the Panthers took a 7-5 lead and kept the game close throughout, with neither team being allowed to go on a long service run, until the Bearcats reeled off five of seven points to end the game. Florida Tech got off to a promising start, winning five of seven to start game three. McKendree best run came whe...

The Florida Tech volleyball team hosted the Panther Invitational Tournament last weekend and got their season off to a solid 2-1 start. On Friday September 2, the Panthers opened against Georgia College, winning the first two sets, on their way to a 3-1 victory. The Panthers won the first two sets convincingly, 25-19 and 25-17, before dropping the third set 25-21. The fourth set was a nail-biter, with Florida Tech needing to win eight of the last 10 points to squeak out a 27-25 victory. Senior outside hitter, Jenna Schaffer had 14 kills and nine digs to lead Tech, with Sophomore Olivia Hersey driving home 13 kills of her own. Sophomore  Kiersten Rosa  set a new career-high with 38 assists, and added an impressive 14 digs. Georgia College box score On Saturday, the team played two matches, shutting out Wilmington 3-0 in the morning game and losing to Puerto Rico Mayaguez in the tournament final. The Panthers were too strong for the Wildcats of Wilmington, ...