Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (September 18, 2007) - Nova Southeastern University volleyball defeated conference rival Lynn University 3-2 in action on Tuesday night, led by outside hitter Christina Chubb's (Jr., Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) outstanding line of 16 kills and no errors in 40 attempts. The 30-25, 30-25, 30-32, 18-30, 17-15 win marks the Sharks record setting 7th consecutive victory and brings their overall season record to 12-4, 2-0 in the Sunshine State Conference. Lynn falls to 8-3 overall and 0-1 in SSC play.
The Sharks took control of game one, hitting a match high .421 to win 30-25. Lynn was held to a .190 attack percentage while being out-blocked four to zero by NSU. Chubb led NSU with five kills in the opening game, followed by outside hitter Paola Ruiz (Fr., Rio Piedras, P.R.), opposite Aley Tallman (So., Wichita, Kan.) and middle blocker Melinda Gorman (Jr., Sarasota, Fla.) with four apiece. Setter Valia Petrova (Jr., Sofia, Bulgaria) tallied 16 assists and four digs. Camila Lins led Lynn with six kills.
The Sharks came away with another 30-25 win in a game two that featured 14 ties and seven lead changes. NSU once again out-hit Lynn .222 to .150, led by four kills from middle Emily Carle (Jr., Missouri City, Tex.). Ruiz, Chubb, Gorman and Tallman each had three more kills for the Sharks. Lins led Lynn with seven kills in the game.
NSU battled from behind to take a 25-22 lead in game three, only to see Lynn muster a rally of its own to win 32-30. The Fighting Knights out-hit NSU .245 to .154 in the game, led by five more kills from Lins. Ruiz and Chubb tied for the Sharks' lead with five kills apiece.
Lynn continually built their lead in game four, never once trailing to win 30-18. Lins posted seven more kills for the Fighting Knights while Gorman led the Sharks with three. Lynn hit .250 in the game while holding NSU to .029.
The Sharks rebounded to win a tight game five 17-15, in a game that saw five ties and two lead changes. Ruiz led the Sharks with five kills in a game NSU hit .308 as a team. Lynn hit .346, led by freshman Lacy Redwine.
For the match, Lynn out-hit NSU .229 to .221, but had four less assists, eight less digs, and two less blocks. The Sharks outs-scored Lynn 86 to 83 in overall points in a match that saw 38 ties and 14 lead changes.
Chubb brought her game to another level in the match, hitting a team high .400 with 16 kills and no errors in 40 attempts. She also had five digs and two blocks to lead NSU to victory. Ruiz hit a team high 19 kills and also had two aces and 11 digs. Gorman followed with 17 kills, hitting .333 with eight digs and a team high six blocks. Tallman and Carle contributed with nine and eight kills, respectively. Petrova established a new career high with 61 assists in the match and also had a team high 23 digs. Libero Jenny Fitch (Batavia, Ill.) hustled for 13 digs on the evening.
Lins led Lynn with a match high 28 kills, hitting .304 in the process. Fighting Knights libero Christie Schade had a match high 24 digs while Redwine finished with 13 kills and 21 digs.
The victory marks the longest winning streak in NSU volleyball history since joining NCAA Division II in 2002. It also establishes the best start in conference history for the Sharks with a 2-0 start.
Nova Southeastern hits the road, traveling to Miami Shores, Fla., to face conference rival Barry University at 4 pm on Saturday, September 22nd. The game can be heard live via the NSU Athletics Audiocast Network at http://nsuathletics.nova.edu/statistics/liveaudio.cfm .
