Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (October 27, 2007) - The Nova Southeastern University volleyball team fell in three games to No. 1 nationally ranked University of Tampa in action on Saturday afternoon inside the University Center Arena. The Spartans defeated NSU 30-24, 30-15 and 30-21 to improve to 24-1, including 11-0 in the Sunshine State Conference while Nova Southeastern falls to 22-8, 8-4 SSC.

Tampa came out with something to prove right from the opening serve before winning 30-24. The Spartans hit .333 in the opening frame while holding NSU to a .095 attack percentage. Middle Blocker Emily Carle (Jr., Missouri City, Tex.) led the Sharks with four kills while Melissa Vanderhall paced Tampa with six kills in game one.

Game two proved to be more of the same as the Spartans downed NSU 30-15. Tampa continued to stay hot, hitting .346 as opposed to .088 for NSU. Carle once again led the Sharks with three kills while Tampa was helped by five kills from Alisha Green. The Sharks did out-block Tampa in the game, led by opposite Aley Tallman (So., Wichita, Kan.) with one solo and one assist.

Tampa hit a match high .450 in the final game to win 30-21. NSU also hit a match high with a .147 attack percentage. Tallman and middle Melinda Gorman (Jr., Sarasota, Fla.) tied for the team lead with three kills in the game. Erin Clark had a game high six kills for the Spartans.

For the match Tampa out-hit Nova Southeastern .380 to .109. The Spartans totaled 23 more kills, 18 more assists, three more aces, 21 more digs and three more blocks.

Erin Clark recorded a match high 11 kills for Tampa, followed by Melissa Vanderhall with 10 and Alisha Green with nine. Spartans setter Gabriela Saade tallied a match high 42 assists. Libero Margeaux Sinibaldi had a match high 21 digs.

Carle led NSU with nine kills, followed by Gorman with seven and Tallman with six. Setter Valia Petrova (Jr., Sofia, Bulgaria) totaled 27 assists while the Sharks were led by defensive specialist Jenny Fitch (Sr., Batavia, Ill.) and libero Kathleen Yony (Fr., Miami, Fla.) with 10 apiece.

NSU will travel for their final road trip next weekend, playing Rollins College at 7pm on Friday, November 2nd and Florida Southern at 2pm on Sunday, November 4th. The matches can be heard live on the NSU Athletics Audiocast Network.