Volleyball wins two at AASU Classic

SAVANNAH, Ga. – Florida Tech improved their record breaking season to 9-0 today at the AASU/Chatham Orthopedic Classic defeating UNC Pembroke 3-1 and
Francis Marion 3-0.

Leading the way for the Panthers against the UNCP Braves were Mayne Pegorari with 20 kills, Marcela Vasconcelos with 43
assists and Katie Dobek with three service aces and 26 digs. Jessie Metzger also added 19 kills.

For the Braves Rachel Young had 15 kills, Heather Fierce added 42 assists and Andrea Laza made 24 digs.

Tech began game one with a good level of control, but struggled to keep their momentum. They started to break away with Frankie Brown at
the service line taking the score to 21-14, but UNCP beat them at the attack line and took the game 30-32. Game two started out neck-and-neck, but the
Panthers pulled away with kills from Metzger and Lindsay Foster and ball handling errors from the Braves. The Panthers won game two 30-23
to tie the match at one a piece. Game three started evenly and Tech pulled away quickly and maintained control to win the set 30-19. Attack errors plagued
the Panthers for the first 10 points of game four, but they bounced back quickly and earned a season high team attack average of .391 to win the game
30-20.

The match against the Francis Marion Patriots yielded 13 kills for Pegorari, 35 assists for Vasconcelos, 26 digs for Dobek and four blocks from Foster.

Jessica Lombardi tallied 16 kills for the Patriots while Jenna Kaiser added 27 assists and Jackie Phiel had 23 digs.

Tech got off to a shaky start at the beginning of game one giving up three points right away, but they recovered quickly. A five-point lead soon became a
ten-point lead and the Panthers took game one 30-21. Game two found the Panthers struggling to hold control with multiple serve-receive errors. Tech took
advantage of the Patriots’ team attack average of .042 and held on to win 30-25. Game three was neck-and-neck until the Panthers widened the gap with a
service ace and three consecutive kills to take the win 30-25.

Florida Tech will wrap up tournament play tomorrow with matches at noon against host Armstrong Atlantic State and 4 p.m. against Coker College.