ST. PAUL, Minn. (Dec. 4, 2008) - The Nova Southeastern University volleyball team ran out of magic in their NCAA Division II Quarterfinal match vs. No. 8 nationally ranked Truman State, falling in three sets by the scores of 21-25, 20-25 and 20-25 in action on Thursday afternoon. The Sharks post-season run marks the furthest the team has ever advanced in program history; falling just three victories shy of a national title and conclude their season at 24-12. Truman State improves to 33-7 and will advance to its third National Semifinal match in program history.

In a game of runs, Nova Southeastern gained an early edge over Truman State, the South Central Region Champions, to lead 5-0. The Bulldogs answered back by going on a 17-3 run to lead 17-8 and force a NSU timeout. The Sharks retaliated with a 12-3 run of its own to knot the contest at 20 and regain momentum before Truman closed the set with a 5-1 stretch to take a 25-21 decision in the opening set. NSU was out-hit .061 to .000 in the set. AVCA honorable mention All-American Emily Carle (Sr., Missouri City, Tex.) and Melinda Gorman (Sr., Sarasota, Fla.) paced NSU with three kills apiece while five Truman State players posted two kills apiece.

Both team rebounded to post more impressive numbers in the second set, but once again Truman State pulled away late to win 25-20. The Bulldogs jumped ahead 15-12 midway through the set, but the Sharks were able to score four of the next five points to tie the score at 16. Truman regained momentum with a late run for the victory. Truman State out-hit NSU .257 to .167. Gorman tallied a set high six kills while Eli Medina had five kills for the Bulldogs. Sharks second team AVCA All-American setter Valia Petrova (Sr., Sofia, Bulgaria) had 10 assists, a kill, an ace and two digs.

The Sharks, who rebounded from two set deficits in both the South Regional semi-finals and finals, ran out of magic in the elite eight against Truman State. The Bulldogs, who were aware of the Sharks penchant for comebacks, raced out to a 13-8 advantage and never looked back en route to the 25-20 win. Once again, NSU was held to a .000 hitting percentage. Truman State hit at a .098 clip. The Bulldogs were led by Dana Hanselmann with three kills while Gorman had four kills for the Sharks.

For the match, both team struggled offensively, as Truman mustered just a .138 mark for the match while NSU struggled and hit just .054.

"The good thing about Truman State is they side out pretty quickly," commented NSU head coach Steve Wilcosky. "There were a few times when I felt we had to get on a run and they stopped us pretty quickly. Some of their older athletes understand the importance of stopping those runs and they never let us get going today."

Truman State head coach Jason Shoch commented "Nova is a very good and scrappy team. They have a way of making their opponents look bad, and that's what they did to us today. Nova did a great job of throwing us off guard...overall Nova did a good job."

Gorman was the only player in the match to tally double figures in kills with 13. She also had seven digs and three block assists. Carle and Petrova had the next highest hitting marks with four kills each. Sophomore libero Kathleen Yony (So., Miami, Fla.) led the team with 16 digs. Freshman middle blocker Molly Sigerich (Downers Grove, Ill.) boosted the Shark blocking game with five assists. Petrova assisted on 25 of the team's 32 kills.

Senior outside hitter Eli Medina had a team high eight kills for the Bulldogs. She was also the team dig leader with 16 saves. Lisa Weber came in with seven kills, five block assists and five digs. Whitney Boehler had 13 digs, followed by Dana Hanselmann with ten. The setting game was split between Kylie Easlon and Ashley Petak with 17 and 13 assists each, respectively

The match marked the conclusion of the careers of NSU seniors Emily Carle, Christina Chubb (Oakland Park, Fla.), Melinda Gorman, Andrea Irarrazabal (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and Valia Petrova. After the match, Gorman commented "Starting off my freshman year, we went 4-19, were last in the conference and only won one conference game. The five seniors on this team have made some traditions and set a standard for others to follow."