St. Petersburg, Fla. (Oct. 23, 2009)  The Nova Southeastern University volleyball team escaped with a five set victory over the Eckerd Tritons in Sunshine State Conference action on Friday evening inside the McArthur Center. The win improves the Sharks record to 14-8 on the season, including 5-4 in SSC play while Eckerd falls to 13-9, 4-5 SSC.

Led by a balanced offensive attack, the Sharks raced out to an early two set advantage over the Tritons. Things looked grim for Eckerd in the third set, as NSU held a 22-17 advantage and needed just three points to clinch the match. EC rallied to win the third set, won the fourth set and forced a match deciding fifth set.

Down 13-10 in the fifth set, the Sharks responded to a timeout by head coach Steve Wilcosky to knot the score at 13 apiece and then lead 14-13. NSU was successful on their third attempt at match point, winning on a block by sophomore middle blocker Molly Sigerich (Downers Grove, Ill.) and junior outside hitter Lucia Cizmarova (Bratislava, Slovak Republic).

Cizmarova led the Sharks with 17 kills, five aces and three digs. She was followed by junior outside hitter Taylor Pohlman (Olathe, Kan.) with 16 kills, senior outside hitter Jenerra McGruder (Euless, Tex.) with 15 kills and freshman middle blocker Carly Perschnick (Dwight, Ill.) with 14 kills. Senior All-America setter Valia Petrova (Sofia, Bulgaria) had a season high 55 assists, five kills, and 17 digs. Junior libero Kathleen Yony (Miami, Fla.) also tied for the team lead with 17 digs.

NSU was out-hit .194 to .244 by the Tritons but had seven more kills, four m ore assists and six more aces.

Lydee Benoit had a match high 24 kills for Eckerd.

The Sharks will travel to Tampa, Fla. to take on SSC rival Tampa at 4 pm on Sunday, October 24th.