(Indianapolis, Ind.)—The Nova Southeastern University volleyball team dropped their first two matches of the 2010 season, both to nationally ranked opponents on Friday in the Indianapolis Volleyball Invitational. The Sharks fell 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-21) to 25th-ranked Truman State and 3-1 (25-12, 25-17, 23-25, and 25-14) to fourth-ranked UIndy.
In the first match, the Sharks jumped out to quick lead, but Truman State eventually rallied to take set one 25-20. NSU had a total of 10 kills in the set, but five untimely errors in the middle of the set led to Bulldog victory.
In the second set, the Sharks fell behind early as Truman State prevailed 25-18 putting NSU down two sets to none. NSU held the lead for half of the third set, but once again Truman rallied to win the set and the match 3-0. The Sharks played their best set of the match in the third set recording 14 kills.
The Sharks were led by
Paola Ruiz (Rio Piedros, Puerto Rico) who recorded 10 kills, while
Anabely Escarpita(Boca Raton, Fla.) added six.
Jordan Pappas(Naperville, Ill.) led the Sharks with 22 assists.
In the second match fourth-ranked UIndy got off to a scorching start in the first set grabbing a quick 10 point lead en route to a 25-12 victory. The second set was much of the same with the Sharks falling behind early were unable to catch a red hot Greyhound team falling 25-17.
Down 2-0 heading into the third set, the Sharks showed new life as they took a quick lead and maintained it through a barn-burning third set. The game came down to as 23-23 tie before NSU closed out a 25-23 victory.
Motivated, the NSU Sharks came out with a quick lead in the fourth set. However, the Greyhounds started a rally of their own in the middle of the set to eventually closed out the match with a 25-14 fourth set victory and a 3-1 match win.
“Although the score does not show it, our girls played better this game than the last,” head coach Steve Wilcosky said. “This is a showing of how far this team has come. This match was more a big building block for our team.”
The Sharks were led by
Paola Ruiz in the second match with eight kills and
Molly Sigerich (Downers Grove, Ill.) added seven. Cheneta Morrison (13) and Kristina Kerrigan (11) both recorded double-digit kills for the Greyhounds.
NSU steps on the hardwood again on Saturday, Sept. 4 facing West Virginia State at 3:30 pm followed by their last match of the UIndy Volleyball Invitational against Tusculum at 8 pm.
NSU vs. #25 Truman State Stats:
custompages/Volleyball/2010/ns01.htm
NSU vs. #4 Indianapolis Stats:
custompages/Volleyball/2010/ns02.htm
