CARROLLTON, Ga. -- The Nova Southeastern University volleyball team (12-7) split a pair of matches on the opening day of the South Region Crossover hosted by West Georgia. The Sharks opened with a 3-0 win over West Alabama to start the tournament on Friday morning, but ended with a 3-1 loss to North Alabama in the afternoon at the Coliseum. 

NSU regained some of their early season confidence to start the day after taking three straight sets from West Alabama (7-12) 25-22, 25-14, 25-21. The Sharks opened the match going point-for-point and fought off tie scores on 14 different occasions before eventually breaking a 20-20 tie. NSU outscored UWA 5-2 in the last points of the set to take an early 1-0 lead in the match. 

The Sharks dominated the second set and never trailed as they cruised to a 25-14 win and stretched their lead to 2-0. The final set began in much the same way as the first set. However, with the score notched at 10 all, NSU began to break away and went on a 15-7 run to close out the match with a 3-0 win ending a three-match loosing streak. 

In the nightcap, NSU fell to a strong 16-4 North Alabama team 25-23, 25-17, 19-25, 25-14. But the Sharks played off the emotions from their early morning victory and held their own against the Lions. Although the Sharks trailed by as many as five in the opening frame, the team managed to pull within two points down the stretch and fell 25-23. 

The Sharks trailed from the opening serve in set two, but came to within two with the score 15-13. However, the Lions went on a 10-4 run to close out the set for the win 25-17. NSU turned the tables on UNA in the third set and relied on big blocking performances from Caitlin Donahue (Sr., Miami, Fla.), Denvyr Tyler-Palmer (Fr., Jacksonville, Fla.) and Katie Pyles (Jr., Denver, Colo.). In all, the Sharks picked up six total blocks in the frame and stole a 25-19 win from the Lions to narrow the match lead to 2-1. However, North Alabama came back and dominated the final set 25-14 to take the 3-1 victory. 

Dana Holger (Sr., Lino Lakes, Fla.) led the way for NSU tallying 27 kills and 23 digs over the two matches. Tyler-Palmer followed with 22 kills and Donahue finished with 10 kills and eight blocks on the day. Pyles added 59 assists, while both Kaelyn Brock (So., La Quinta, Calif.) and Megan Burns (Fr., Sylvania, Ohio) each added 18 digs over the Sharks' two matches. 

NSU will return to action on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. facing Union to close out play at the 2015 South Region Crossover. Live stats will be available by visiting www.NSUSharks.com.