GAME ONE BOX SCORE | GAME TWO BOX SCORE

WICHITA FALLS, Texas –Knowing the first tournament of the season was going to be a challenge; the Nova Southeastern University volleyball team (0-2) used day one of the Midwestern State/Hampton Inn-vitational as a learning experience but was unable to walk away with a win in the D.L. Logon Coliseum.

GAME ONE
The Nova Southeastern University volleyball team, who coincidently opened the previous season against No. 20 Truman State (1-0), saw familiar results with a 3-1 loss this time in the 2011 Midwestern State Hampton Inn-vitational.
 
Losing its top leader in kills to a season ending injury in pre-season, the Sharks struggled to find their rhythm offensively, but saw positive sparks intermittently throughout the match.
 
Returners Anabely Escarpita (Sr., Boca Raton, Fla.) and Danielle Graham (Jr., Cincinnati, Ohio) led the Sharks both posting double-digit kills in the match. NSU totaled 43 kills, with three newcomers getting at least one but the Sharks only hit at .078 in the loss.
 
Nova Southeastern saw strength in its defense, out digging the Bulldogs, 77-70. Libero Paige Boivin (Jr., Plainfield, Ill.) led both teams with 24 digs. Escarpita also posted 20 digs in the showing.
 
Not seeming to be fazed about the ranking of Truman, NSU played point-to-point with the Bulldogs in the first set. Junior Jordan Pappas (Naperville, Ill.) served up one of her two aces to even the set 16-16. Truman went on a 3-0 run before head coach Steve Wilcosky called a timeout. The 60-second break pulled the momentum back into the Sharks hands as NSU evened the game back at 19-19. Truman quickly turned it around winning the next six points taking set one, 25-19.
 
Truman repeated with a 25-19 win in set two but NSU hit a set high of .163 with 14 kills. Graham was nearly unstoppable getting five kills in nine attacks, hitting .556 while not getting an attack error.
 
NSU jumped out on top with a 7-4 lead forcing Truman to call a timeout. The break redirected Truman’s focus, climbing back to even take an 8-7 lead. A 7-0 run, which included six kills between Graham and Rachel Woodson (Jr., Rogers, Ark.), gave NSU its biggest lead of the day.
 
Truman did not back down and tied the second set at 18-18. The Sharks had trouble stopping the offensive power of the Bulldogs down the stretch, as Truman took the demanding 2-0 lead.
 
NSU’s best set was when they needed it the most to stay alive, and the Sharks even pulled from behind to get the win. Truman took a 6-2 lead before Wilcosky used his first timeout early to regroup his troops. Even when the Sharks used their second and final timeout, NSU again found themselves down by four, 18-14.
 
Using three of Truman’s errors and a kill by Graham, Nova Southeastern evened the set at 18-18. The set then turned into a back-and-forth battle as both teams did not get more than a one-point advantage. At 22-22, Escarpita gave the Sharks the late lead with a kill. A miss set by Truman gave the Sharks set point and the Bulldogs called a timeout. Senior Molly Sigerich (Downers Grove, Ill.) and sophomore Julia Lopez (El Paso, Texas) closed out the set with a block and take the win, 25-22.
 
Unable to retain the momentum, the Sharks fell in the final set 25-15.
 
GAME TWO
The Sharks faltered against host of the tournament Midwestern State (2-0) in three sets, 25-14, 25-16, 25-17 in the second match of the day.

Escarpita and Graham once again were the Sharks' leaders at the net with eight and six kills, respectively.

Redshirt freshman Destiny Bannister (Homestead, Fla.) made her NSU debut as she finished the match with four kills and two blocks. Boivin finished her second straight match with double-digit digs with 12.

Midwestern State posted 38 kills to NSU’s 21 and earned a .245 better attack percentage.

Keeping the set close in the first, junior Kelly McMahon (Madison, Wis.) served her first ace of the season as the Sharks were only down by two early, 6-4. Even as NSU closed the gap to one at 9-8, Midwestern State went on a 12-0 run to increase its lead by double-digits. NSU scored six more points in the set but it was not enough as the Mustangs took the first set, 25-14.

The second set did not prove anymore positive for the Sharks. Bannister and sophomore Samantha High (Naples, Fla.) open the set stuffing an attack from Midwestern State for the first point. High and Bannister both found the open court to register a kill and pull the Sharks within one point twice early. Again the Mustangs went on a run in the middle of the set to pull ahead. Nova Southeastern did not gather enough rallies to complete the comeback.

In the final set, NSU’s strung together two four-point runs but still couldn’t muster enough points to pull out with the win as they fell 3-0.

The Sharks will conclude the two-day tournament with two games against No. 5 Washburn and Incarnate Word at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.
 
For the match results, be sure to check www.NSUSharks.com or sign up to have results sent directly to your cell phone by signing up for SMS text messages by clicking here. For the weekly NSU Shark Athletic news, please sign up for the Shark Alert E-Newsletter by clicking here.