Box Score

Boca Raton, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University volleyball team dropped three straight sets to the Lynn Fighting Knights at the de Hoernle Arts and Cultural Center Friday night.

“Well I think the biggest thing we have to learn from this is to go back to fundamentals,” said head coach Steve Wilcosky. “It's hard to play a match when we are giving points away. Win or lose, we need to make teams earn their points.”

After keeping set one close, the Sharks (4-7 overall, 1-2 SSC) fell apart in the next two sets falling 25-17 and 25-14.

With the loss, the Fighting Knights (8-4 overall, 2-2 SSC) evened up the all-time series 14-14.

Lynn's Mallory Deneen was the lone player to reach double-digit kills with 13 leading the way for Lynn, who hit .247 on the night compared to a .055 by the Sharks. Also, Lynn dominated on the defensive doubling their blocks to NSU, 8.0 to 4.0.

Senior Paola Ruiz (Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico) registered nine kills to lead the Sharks. Although Danielle Graham (So., Cincinnati, Ohio) only had six kills, she hit .308 on the night on 13 attacks.

In the first set, both teams were even at the net with 12 kills apiece. At 19-19, the Fighting Knights went on a 5-0 run forcing Wilcosky to call two timeouts in that stretch. Although the Sharks fought back with a 3-0 run at set point, a Deneen kill gave Lynn a 1-0 lead.

Down by nine in set two, 16-7, the Sharks used three kills and two blocks, along with a Lynn attack error, to cut the lead by five and forcing Lynn to call a timeout. Several errors on the Sharks end was costly as the Fighting Knights took a commanding 2-0 lead.

Coming out of intermission, the Sharks dominated the first part of set three, taking a 6-1 lead. Jordan Pappas (So., Naperville, Ill.) served up the lone Sharks ace of the night to give NSU its fifth point.

A strategic timeout by Lynn's head coach, Lynze Roos, turned the tempo around, allowing Lynn to go on a 6-1 run and even the score 7-7. With the advantage in the Fighting Knights favor at 9-8, Lynn deepened the wound by serving four straight aces to put them up by four. Unfortunately the Sharks did put not together another rally as they dropped the final set, 25-14.

The Sharks will continue conference play on the road against the Florida Tech Panthers tomorrow at 4 p.m.

“One of the things about Florida Tech is that they are similar to the playing style of Lynn, so that makes it about us,” said Wilcosky. “We can put a game plan out there but until we are a little more disciplined in our actions and the way that we are playing, the opponents' tactics is not our biggest challenge.”