MELBOURNE, Fla. (Oct. 28, 2008) - The Nova Southeastern University women's volleyball team won its fifth consecutive Sunshine State Conference match, sweeping Florida Tech in three sets in action on Tuesday evening. The win improves the Sharks record to 19-6 on the season and 7-2 in SSC play while Florida Tech falls to 19-10, 3-8 SSC.
Emily Carle (Sr., Missouri City, Tex.), Molly Sigerich (Fr., Downers Grove, Ill.) and Paola Ruiz (So., Rio Piedras, P.R.) paced the Sharks attack in the first set victory with three kills apiece. Nova Southeastern hit .167 as a team, but held Florida Tech to a -.027 attack percentage. Freshman setter Allyson Keith (Normal, Ill.) saw her first action on the season, tallying one kill and six assists. Ruiz had a set high six digs. Marcela Vasconcelos had three kills for the Panthers.
The Sharks hit a match high .346 in the second set. Carle recorded four kills, followed by Valia Petrova (Sr., Sofia, Bulgaria) and Melinda Gorman (Sr., Sarasota, Fla.) with three kills each. Carle also accounted for three service ace. Petrova had 10 assists and three digs. Sacha Gumbs had three kills for Florida Tech.
Nova Southeastern rallied from a late deficit to win the third set, 27-25. Once again, Carle, Sigerich and Ruiz had three kills in the set. Junior Jenerra McGruder (Euless, Tex.) was two-for-two on attack attempts. Defensive specialist Alison Kalish (Jr., Miami, Fla.) added five digs. Gumbs tallied seven kills for FIT.
For the match, NSU out-hit FIT .208 to .138. The Sharks had nine more kills, eight more assists, five more aces and 12 more digs than the Panthers.
Carle led NSU with 10 kills, four aces, three digs and two blocks. Sigerich followed with eight kills while Ruiz had seven, Gorman had six and Petrova had five. Petrova also added a team high 24 assists and 12 digs.
Gumbs had 10 kills for Florida Tech. Libero Aysha Nickels had a match high 15 digs for the Panthers.
NSU will return home to host Eckerd College on Friday, October 31st at 7 pm inside the University Center Arena.
