BOX SCORE

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – It was a block party in the NSU Arena on “Take a Bite Out of Cancer” night, as the Nova Southeastern volleyball team (5-16, 1-8 SSC) turned away Central Oklahoma, 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-22, 25-20), Friday evening. The Sharks ratcheted up the defense and blocked 12 Bronchos attacks.
 
Danielle Graham (Jr., Cincinnati, Ohio) registered the first two NSU points with a pair of strong kills to tie the match early, 2-2. The Sharks captured the next four points, capped by an Anabely Escarpita (Sr., Boca Raton, Fla.) kill that forced a UCO timeout.
 
The break in play did little to thwart the Sharks momentum as Paige Boivin (Jr., Plainfield, Ill.) placed a great service ace to push the lead to five and Jordan Pappas (Jr., Naperville, Ill.) did the same just a few points later to increase the margin to six. The NSU lead reached 10 points, 17-7, when Rachel Woodson (Jr., Rogers, Ark.) and Graham rose up to block a Carissa Ophus attack.
 
The Bronchos began to rally though, finding their offensive stride as they registered 10 kills through the middle of the set to close the gap to three, 24-21. Senior Molly Sigerich (Downers Grove, Ill.) ensured the set did not slip away from the Sharks, driving home a perfectly placed kill to give NSU a 1-0 set advantage.
 
The second set was a back-and-forth affair as each team did its best to mount a lead early on, but was corralled back by the opposition. Escarpita and Sigerich teamed up to block a UCO attack to put the Sharks up 12-10, but Alex Richardson answered back for the Bronchos with three kills to swing the lead in UCO’s favor, 17-15.
 
NSU kept the set close, but the Bronchos were able to hold off a late run by the Sharks to take the set, 25-22.
 
In the third set, sophomore Samantha High (Naples, Fla.) put the Sharks ahead, 2-1, with two of her nine kills in the match. UCO started to pull away, building a 12-10 advantage following two Jordan Jacobs kills, but Pappas and Sigerich notched another Sharks block and evened the set, 13-13. Kills from Graham and High pushed the NSU lead to three, 19-16, and Sigerich and Escarpita paired to secure the set, 25-22, for the Sharks with a demonstrative block.
 
With the rowdy NSU crowd behind them, the Sharks jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the fourth set as Escarpita and Graham combined this time for a block and Boivin recorded her second service ace. The Bronchos battled to keep the set close, but the senior tandem of Escarpita and Sigerich recorded the 12th total team block for the Sharks, putting them ahead 21-16.
 
Sigerich notched a pair of kills late in the set to bring her tally to seven, as NSU went on to take the fourth set, 25-22, and the match 3-1.
 
Graham finished the match with a team-high 14 kills, while Escarpita was one back with 13, hitting at a .370 clip. Richardson for UCO recorded a match-high 19 kills with a .350 hitting percentage. Boivin led all student-athletes with 27 digs in the match, while Pappas added 44 assists on 48 Sharks kills.
 
The Sharks will be back on the court at NSU Arena Saturday, Oct. 22, to take on SSC foe Eckerd at 4 p.m.

For the latest NSU news and results, be sure to visit www.NSUSharks.com. To have results sent directly to your cell phone via text message, sign up for SMS text message delivery by clicking here. For the latest news, be sure to sign up for the Shark Alert E-newsletter by clicking here.