FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University volleyball team (8-17, 3-11 SSC) will host conference opponent Barry University (15-5, 10-4 SSC) in the Arena at the Don Taft University Center this Tuesday at 7 p.m., for its last home game of the 2010 season.

 

Prior to the match, the NSU women’s volleyball program will honor senior libero Kathleen Yony (Miami, Fla.) as the only player graduating from the program after this season.

 

Yony has been a major contribution to the positive change of the NSU volleyball program. Serving as team captain, last weekend she broke the 14-year-old NSU all-time career record digs to now become the new leader with 1,703. In 2008, she led her team to an NCAA South Regional Championship in order to continue on to the NCAA Division II Elite eight tournament in Minneapolis, Minn. She has led her team almost every season to an NCAA Regional appearance and has been named a two-time SSC Player of the Week. She was also named to the Sunshine State Conference First-Team All-Conference and is currently nationally ranked in digs per set. Yony plans to graduate with a degree in psychology.

 

The Sharks fell last weekend to Florida Southern (18-8, 8-5 SSC) in five sets despite some career best performances from NSU. Freshman Samantha High (Naples, Fla.) stepped up to the plate when thrown in during the second game to post a career high of 10 kills for the match while sophomore Rachel Woodson (Rogers, Ark.) did just the same recording 23 kills for the night.

 

Sophomore setter Jordan Pappas (Naperville, Ill.) amounted a new career high of 57 assists in conference play, as Anabely Escarpita (Jr., Boca Raton, Fla.) was the only player to post a double-double with 11 kills and 18 digs respectively, for a career high of digs.

On Sat., Nov. 6th against Rollins College, the Sharks luck was again not in their favor after a three game sweep. Even with a solid performance from junior Paola Ruiz (Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico) in registering her 21st career double-double and Woodson leading the team in kills it wasn’t enough.

 

The Sharks struggled the entire match to keep things together which gave the Tars a clear competitive advantage. The Tars capitalized on NSU’s shaky mind set to win 3-0, setting their SSC record to 8-6 and 19-8 overall.

 

The SSC No. 2 Barry University (15-5, 10-4 SSC) hosted their senior night on Sat., Nov. 6th in a match against Florida Southern, to win 3-0. The Bucs hit .354 for the night and were led by Julia Teixeira who posted 20 kills and two blocks. She is currently ranked number one in the SSC for kills per game averaging 4.69 and number one in points per game with 5.38. She was recently named SSC Player of the Week and proven to be the anchor to the teams’ season success.

 

Along with Teixeria, junior setter Libby Walter is also ranked second in the SSC for assists per game, averaging 10.85, just one seed above NSU’s setter Pappas.

 

Just a day before, the Bucs fell to the lower ranked Tars in a five game battle. Even though the Bucs left the match with the higher hitting percentage the Tars were able to pull away in the fifth game to claim the match. Teixeira again had an incredible game, posting a double-double of 28 kills and 17 digs.

 

Right behind her was Ady Alcantara who reported 23 kills and is currently ranked six in the SSC standings for kills per game, averaging 3.15. The two OH’s will be the key players in tomorrow night’s match and NSU will have to show respect to both and prepare to shut them down in order to pull through with a win.

 

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