Melbourne, Fla.- Attempting to come from two games down once again, the Palm Beach Atlantic University women’s volleyball team fell just short as they were edged by Florida Tech on Wednesday night in a tight five-game defeat at the hands of the home-standing Panthers.

After defeating Barry University on the road last week after being down 0-2, the Sailfish once again stormed back into contention on Wednesday evening against FIT by winning games three and four only to fall in the fifth and deciding set and take the loss.

FIT opened up play with victories in game one and two by scores of 30-28 and 30-22 only to see PBA pull out the next two games by the scores of 30-25 and 30-28. With momentum on their side, the Sailfish unfortunately ran out of gas as the Panthers were victorious 15-12 to take the match.

Senior outside-hitter Ali Mitchell (West Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm HS) paced the Sailfish attack with a season-high 21 kills. She was followed up by fellow senior Bia Santos (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Palm Beach CC) with 17 kills and junior Brittany Erickson with 12 kills (La Mesa, Calif.) in the match.

Santos led the determined Sailfish defense against FIT as she collected a team-high 19 digs while also adding two aces from the serving line. The nearly-always dependable Emily Ryerson (Winter Springs, Fla./Winter Springs HS) fed the Sailfish front-line attackers and was awarded 55 total assists in the five games while only be charged with two setting errors.

In the end, the Panthers were able to regroup and take the match behind the strong play of two Browns: Frankie Brown and Leigh Ann Brown who both notched double-digit kill performances with 20 and 10 respectively. Marcela Vasconcelos chipped in 49 assists in the victory.

PBA now turns their attention to their weekend slate of matches in the annual Pepsi Bash at the Beach Volleyball Tournament which will be taking place on the PBA campus on Friday and Saturday, September 21st and 22nd. The Fish open up play on Friday afternoon by taking on Southeastern University (Fla.) at 1:30 p.m. followed up by a 7:00 p.m. date with St. Thomas University (Fla.) at 7:00 p.m. Other teams participating include: Madonna University (Mich.), Embry-Riddle University, and Northwood University (Fla.).

Stay tuned to the PBA athletics website for recaps of PBA’s tournament action.