No. 2 Tampa Stays Undefeated With Win at Florida Tech

MELBOURNE, Fla. - The University of Tampa (16-0, 7-0 SSC) volleyball team survived an early battle to hand Florida Tech (5-12, 2-6 SSC) a 3-0 defeat on Friday at the Clemente Center in Sunshine State Conference action. The Spartans won by scores of 25-22, 25-18, 25-12.

Tampa was forced to come-from-behind in the first set, which featured three lead changes and seven ties. Danielle Selkridge and Jessica Yingling each posted four kills as the Spartans prevailed after hitting .316 and limiting the Panthers to a .195 clip.

The second set began with a familiar ring as the Panthers kept the frame close before UT eventually pulled away. Selkridge added five kills as Eva Dupay was 4-for-5.

The Spartans took a commanding 13-0 lead to start the third set as a total of 13 UT players saw action. Tampa registered a .385 attack percentage as it hit over .300 in all three sets. FIT came in at -.069 with seven errors and three service errors in the final stanza.

Selkridge and Yingling led all Spartans with nine kills apiece, as freshman Meagan Burke hit an efficient .667 while connecting on 7-of-9 attempts.

Freshman setter Kahley Patrick had 26 assists as Sloane Baby posted 12 off the bench. Defensively, Patrick added a team-high 10 digs as Selkridge has three total blocks to lead head coach Chris Catanach's squad.

Tampa finished the match with a .350 hitting percentage as the Panthers were .107 with 20 errors, compared to 10 by the victors. Tampa also finished with five total blocks and three service aces.

Tampa will continue the road swing and travel to Fort Lauderdale for a 4 p.m., matchup against Nova Southeastern University on Saturday. Live stats and a webcast will be available through www.tampaspartans.com.

Fans may also follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/tampaspartans). UT also offers blAst, a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com.