#7 Tampa Escapes Florida Tech 3-0

MELBOURNE, Fla. - The seventh-ranked University of Tampa Spartans volleyball team rallied from a pair of 24-21 deficits to pull out a 3-0 victory against the Florida Tech Panthers at the Clemente Center. The win extends the Spartans win streak to nine games and improves their record to 23-2 and 10-1 in conference play while the Panthers drop to 11-11 and 2-9.

Tampa had a sluggish start to begin that match committing four attack errors to give the Panthers an early 7-3 lead. Although Tampa would fight back to take a 10-9 lead, Florida Tech responded with a 6-1 run to force a timeout. UT went on a run of its own after the break to knot things up at 16, and the teams would exchange points before the Panthers put the Spartans on the brink with a 24-21 lead. However Tampa would not deter and battled back to force extras where it prevailed with a 29-27 win. Melissa Vanderhall slammed down nine kills including four in a row at one point to help the comeback effort.

The second set was even tighter than the first as neither team lead by more than two until Tampa went ahead late with a 23-19 lead on consecutive kills by Vanderhall and Camille Hanks. FIT would bring the match to within two again at 24-21 until another Hanks kill gave the Spartans a 2-0 lead in the match.

In the third frame, the story was the same as neither team could pull away and gain more than a two point advantage until the Panthers built a 20-17. Florida Tech would extend the lead to 24-21 when Tampa would make another furious comeback, this time a 5-0 run to win the match.

The duo of Kaleigh Cunningham and Vanderhall turned in 15 kills each to help lift the Spartans, while Hanks ended with nine. Cunningham, the recipient of last week's SSC Player of the Week award, also scooped up 15 digs for her fourth double-double on the season. Setter Meghan Sherman handed out 35 assists and also led the team in service aces with two.

Both teams played tremendous defense as Florida Tech held the advantage in digs 63-62. Tampa still out-hit the Panthers .252 to .211, although it was the third lowest output by the Spartans. Sophomore Julie Howlett notched a match-best 16 digs and Danielle Selkridge put up five blocks to help guide Tampa defensively.

Caitlyn Ballweber was the only Panther with double figures in kills with 13 and Alexis Mastela turned in a double-double with 32 assists to go along with 12 dig. Two other Panthers registered over 10 digs as Amy O'Brien led the squad with 13 and Shelby DeNeice had 11.

The Spartans return home this Friday to play Rollins at 7 p.m. The team continues to accept donations for the cause, which will allow participants to enter for a chance to win three tickets to the University of Florida's football game against Vanderbilt on Nov. 7. All proceeds will go to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. The drawing will take place after the match.
UT will offer live stats through www.tampaspartans.com. Fans may follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans). UT also offers eScores, which is a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events.