PENSACOLA, Fla. (Sept. 10, 2009) - The #17 Nova Southeastern University volleyball team was defeated in three sets on Thursday evening at #19 West Florida by the scores of 25-19, 25-23 and 25-17. The loss drops the Sharks record to 6-3 while West Florida improves to 5-5. The win by West Florida avenged the Sharks victory in the NCAA Division II South Regional finals a year ago, a win that propelled NSU to the NCAA National in St. Paul, Minn.

The Argonauts of West Florida broke open a close first set to win 25-19. UWF out-hit the Sharks .242 to .121 as NSU was held back by seven hitting errors, two service errors and a reception error in the set. Senior outside hitter Jenerra McGruder (Euless, Tex.) led NSU with five kills while freshman middle blocker Carly Perschnick (Dwight, Ill.) had three kills and no errors in six attempts.

The Sharks led the entire second set and by as many as five points until West Florida came back to lead for the first time 23-22. Three points later the Argonauts took the set 25-23. Junior outside hitter Lucia Cizmarova (Bratislava, Slovak Republic) had a set high four kills for NSU.

Nova Southeastern jumped out to another early set lead in the third before West Florida broke the set open with an extended run to win 25-17. Even though the Sharks hit a match high .235 in the set, UWF was allowed a .368 hitting percentage.

For the match, West Florida out-hit NSU .275 to .175. The Argonauts had 11 more kills, eight more assists, four more aces, six more digs and one more block. McGruder and Cizmarova tied for the match lead with 10 kills apiece while Perschnick hit a match high .474 with nine kills. Senior setter Valia Petrova (Sofia, Bulgaria) distributed 34 assists while junior libero Kathleen Yony (Miami, Fla.) had 12 digs.

The Sharks look to rebound on Friday, September 11th at 12:30 pm vs. Puerto Rico Rio-Piedras.