BOX SCORE
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern volleyball team lost a heartbreaker on Senior Night to Saint Leo in five sets at the NSU Arena in the Don Taft University Center, 24-26, 11-25, 25-21, 25-17, 15-10.
Seniors
Paige Boivin (Planfield, Ill.),
Julia Lopez (El Paso, Tex.),
Kelly McMahon (Madison, Wisc.),
Jordan Pappas (Naperville, Ill.) and
Rachel Woodson (Rogers, Ark.) led the team to a 2-0 set lead with a furious comeback in the first and a convincing victory in the second.
The Lions scored the first nine points in the opening frame before NSU rallied to come within two at 15-13. Again, Saint Leo went on a run, getting five straight to push back out to 20-13, but again the Sharks came back. They got within one on three occasions: 21-20, 22-21 and 23-22, and didn’t actually take the lead until 25-24. Jordan Pappas served for the set, and an attack error gave NSU the set win.
Set two wouldn’t have nearly as much drama. The Sharks went out ahead 3-0, 8-2, 12-3 and 18-4. The closest deficit Saint Leo had after that was 13 points, and NSU won the set by 14, 25-11.
Following the break, sets three and four were extremely close. The largest lead in the third was six, at 13-7, and NSU immediately cut it to one with five straight points. From then on, the deficit was no bigger than five, and a St. Leo kill ended it at 25-21.
The fourth, from the first point until 11-10, was never separated by more than two points. The Lions went on a 7-1 run to extend out to an 18-11 lead, and never looked back, forcing the deciding set at 25-17.
Much like the previous set, the fifth began back and forth. At 7-5, neither team had led by more than two points. At that point, Saint Leo went on a 7-3 run to have set and match point at 14-8. Though the Sharks scored twice to make it 14-10, a Tawni Warren kill ended the night at 15-10.
Sydney Cook (Fr., Miami) led the Sharks with 17 kills. Senior Woodson, in her next-to-last match, had a season-high 12. Fellow senior Pappas had 38 assists, while three Sharks had double digit in digs: senior Boivin with 14,
Sarah Shifflett (Boynton Beach, Fla.) 11 and
Dana Holger (Lino Lakes, Minn.) 10. Lopez had two kills and McMahon had eight digs.
The NSU season finale takes place on Saturday at the NSU Arena when the Sharks host Florida Southern at 6 p.m.
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