Box Score

Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University volleyball team (3-5) dropped the final match of the 2010 Hyatt Place Shark Classic on Saturday afternoon to the Arkansas Tech Golden Suns 3-1 to close out tournament play. The Sharks lost 25-19, 17-25, 25-19, 25-19.

Anabely Escarpita (Jr., Boca Raton, Fla.) recorded a double-double to lead the Sharks with 17 kills and 14 digs. She finished with a team-high 18 points in the four-set match. Paola Ruiz (Sr., Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico) followed with her own double-double, 13 kills and 14 digs, but it was just not enough to pit the Sharks over ATU.

In the first set, untimely mistakes told the tale as the Sharks were eight of 28 attempts and seven errors to fall 25-19. In the second set, the Sharks came out blazing, while committing just one attacking error in 34 attempts and finished with a .353 team percentage en route to a 25-17 win. However, the final two sets were near repeats of the first in favor of Arkansas Tech (6-3) as the Golden Suns won both 25-19.

Jordan Pappas (So., Naperville, Ill.) finished with 38 assists for the Sharks, while Kathleen Yony (Sr., Miami, Fla.) added 14 digs. For the tournament, Ruiz led all the offensive attack with 55 total kills averaging 3.93 kills per game. She also added 46 digs for a 3.29 per game average to earn a spot on the Hyatt Place Shark Classic All-Tournament team.

Arkansas Tech’s Lauran Farney led the Golden Suns in the NSU match with 18 kills and added the double-double performance with 10 digs. Sarah Von Lienen, who also earned a spot on the All-Tournament team finished with 14 kills, while Kera Dukic finished with 49 assists.

Other All-Tournament selections were Lynn’s Devon Woolard, Barry’s Ady Alcantana, Minnesota-Duluth’s Katie Kuffel and Minnesota State-Mankato’s Kimber Kuhl.

The Sharks will return to action on Friday, Sept. 17 hosting Saint Leo at the NSU Arena at 7 pm to open 2010 Sunshine State Conference play.