Florida Tech Panthers All Sports Roundup
By Florida Tech // March 5, 2014
Tennis Hosts Chestnut Hill On Wednesday
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA — No. 18 Florida Tech women’s tennis (2-7) and No. 45 men’s tennis (1-5) host Chestnut Hill College on Wednesday, March 5 at 12 p.m. at the DeSoto Tennis Courts.
The Griffins are ranked No. 45 and boast a 13-3 mark on the women’s side while the men’s program is 3-2.
Following tomorrow’s slate, the women host Susquehanna University (5-2) on Thursday, March 6 at 12 p.m. at the FIT Tennis Courts in Melbourne, Fla.
No. 19 Kristina Huba and Natasa Vukovicdefeated Candic Laurent and Aurelie Gaborit, 8-4, in doubles No. 1 on Sunday but the Hawks defeated the Panthers, 8-1.
No. 12 Huba leads all Panthers with eight singles wins, two coming against nationally-ranked opponents and Vukovic is 4-5 in the spring and 7-7 overall. In doubles action, Huba and Vukovic are 8-3 overall and 5-2 in the spring.
Patrick Hernandez paces the men’s team with two wins in the spring, both coming in singles No. 1 action and Matic Leskovar, Beau Fieldsend and Jose Martinez each have four wins in the 2013-14 campaign.
The Panthers are coming off a 6-3 victory over Shorter University on Sunday, March 2. Against the Hawks, FIT swept doubles play and earned wins in singles No. 4, 5 and 6.
No. 18 Softball Adds Home Doubleheader Against Dutch National Team
No. 18 Florida Tech has added a doubleheader against the Dutch National Team on Monday, March 10 starting at 1 p.m. at Nancy Bottge Field.
The national team is scheduled to play 23 games in 20 days during its Florida trip with the first game scheduled for today against NCAA Division I Loyola Marymount in Clearwater. The only other Sunshine State Conference team it’s scheduled to play is Saint Leo on March 19.
“This will be a unique opportunity for our team to face a different culture and one of the best softball teams in Europe,” head coach Val Silvestrini said.
The last time FIT played a national team was in 2011 when the Panthers traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina for the Argentinean International Cup. They played Argentina’s Junior and Senior National Teams and went 6-2.
FIT (14-7) will travel to the National Training Center in Clermont today to play its last two games of the Dot Richardson Spring Games. On its first trip, the Panthers beat Notre Dame College 2-0 and lost to Southern New Hampshire 1-0 on Sunday.
“This will be a unique opportunity for our team to face a different culture and one of the best softball teams in Europe,” — Val Silvestrini
At 1 p.m. today, FIT will take on Findlay from Findlay, Ohio. The Oilers are playing their first two games of the season today after finishing with a 27-15 record in 2013. This spring, they were picked to finish eighth in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
At 3 p.m., the Panthers will oppose Chestnut Hill (0-4) from Philadelphia, Pa. The Griffins went 11-27 in 2013 and are expected to finish 13th in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.
Women’s Golf In Third After Day One of Peggy Kirk Bell Classic
The No. 4 Florida Tech Panthers returned to action Monday for the first two rounds of the Peggy Kirk Bell Classic.
The Panthers put together two solid rounds on day one, and sit in third place heading into Tuesday’s final round. Freshman Johanna Larsson is in second place two shots back in the individual standings.
The Panthers shot a 309 in the first round. Larsson and sophomore Felicia Leftinger both led the Panthers with rounds of three-over-par 75.
Freshman Guro Rambjoer shot a 77 in the first round, and fellow freshman Sarah Thomas shot an 82. Junior Rachel Polson rounded out the scoring for the Panthers in round one with an 87.
The Panthers followed their performance in round one with a 310 in round two. After shooting 75 in the first round, Larsson shot a one-over-par 73 in round two for a day one total of 148.
Leftinger shot a 79 in round two for a day one total of 154. Thomas came back in round two four shots better than round one with a 78, and a day one total of 160. Rambjoer shot an 80 for round two, and finished with a two-round total of 157. Polson shot an 82 in round two for a total of 169.
Playing as individuals, junior Jara’ Templet shot a 78 and freshman Karolyne Shieh shot an 84 in round one. Templet followed with an 80 in round two for a day one total of 158. Shieh shot an 80 in round two for a total of 164.
No. 1 Lynn is in the lead after the first two rounds. The Fighting Knights shot a day one total of 600. They lead No. 6 Rollins by 12 shots and the Panthers by 19.
Lynn’s Samantha Smolen is on top of the individual leaderboard by two shots over Larsson and Annie Dulman of Rollins.
