Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern volleyball squad posted clean sweeps in both matches of day one of the seventh annual Shark Classic, defeating Virginia State and Barton on Friday at the NSU Arena in the Don Taft University Center.
In their first match of the day, the Sharks (2-0) swept past Virginia State by set scores of 25-14, 25-17 and 25-16.
Sydney Cook (So., Miami) paced the squad with 12 kills (and a .409 hitting percentage) in the opener to go along with a team-high of nine digs. Fellow sophomore
Dana Holger (Lino Lakes, Minn.) had eight kills and eight digs, while two newcomers had terrific debuts:
Katie Pyles (Fr., Denver) with a team-high 22 assists and four kills, and junior transfer
Candice Johnson (Chuluota, Fla.) with eight digs from her libero position.
The Sharks got out to big leads in each set. In the first, it was 10-4 and 15-6, paced by three early kills from Holger. In set two, NSU turned a 5-5 tie into an 11-6 lead, eventually going up by as many as 10 points (23-13). Cook had the first five points for the Sharks in the second, all on kills, with three coming off assists from Pyles.
In the final set, sophomore
Caitlin Donahue (Miami) provided a spark off the bench with three kills in the early going, while another second-year player,
Tory Njardvik (Livingston, Mont.) had three of the team's last five points, including the match-winner.
The nightcap, against Barton College, was a closer affair but the same end result, 25-18, 25-14, 25-19.
Holger took the Sharks' game-high honors with nine kills, while Cook added seven. Pyles again led the way in assists with 17, and Cook again had the most digs, with 13.
The Lady Bulldogs and NSU were knotted up at 8-8 in set one, but the Sharks scored seven of the next eight points and never had less than a four-point lead the rest of the way.
In the second frame, it was a 7-1 start behind the serving of Cook and led by as the 25-14 win was the highest spread, off the serves of freshman
Maison Burr (St. Clair, Mich.) and the final kill by Holger.
Barton made things interesting in the final set, cutting a 19-13 NSU lead to 20-18. But the Sharks scored five of the final six points, ending the night with a Holger ace and earning three-set sweeps in both matches.
NSU is right back at it again at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, hosting 2-0 Findlay, and then in the final main court match at 4:30, against Pfeiffer. You can view all of the box scores from day one, and the schedule for Saturday's final day, at the
Shark Classic site HERE.
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.
