CARROLLTON, Ga. -- Needing a momentum shift in their season, the Nova Southeastern University volleyball team (13-7) closed out the weekend at the South Region Crossover hosted by West Georgia with a 3-2 win over Union (5-14). Down 2-0, the Sharks pulled out the five-set victory by set scores of 21-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-14, 15-13 on Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum.
NSU concluded their weekend campaign at the crossover going 2-1 against tough Gulf South Conference opposition. The Sharks opened with a 3-0 win over West Alabama, fell 3-1 to the high octane offense of North Alabama, but closed out with an impressive come-from-behind win over Union.
"This was a very important weekend for us with our regional standings, especially since the rankings will be coming at the end of the month," head coach Jenn King said. "The wins over UWA, Union and a strong showing against UNA were the boost of confidence we needed heading into the second half of conference play next week. Caitlin and Dana really stepped up big this weekend and put us in a great position to finish the season as strong as we started it."
On the offensive end of the court, Dana Holger (Sr., Lino Lakes, Minn.) led the charge by matching her career-high 22 kills the second time this season. Caitlin Donahue (Sr., Miami, Fla.) added 11 kills of her own, but led the team with a blistering .529 percentage on 19 attempts. Denvyr Tyler-Palmer (Fr., Jacksonville, Fla.) also added 13 kills in the win.
Much of the Sharks success in the match came off the block. The team finished with 11 total blocks, nine of which came from the strong defensive play of Devyn Main (So., Port Charlotte, Fla.), while Jenn Rosado (Fr., Miami, Fla.) added four of her own. Kaelyn Brock (So., La Quinta, Calif.) covered the backcourt well picking up a team-high 16 digs. She was followed by Megan Burns (Fr., Sylvania, Ohio) with 14, while Katie Pyles (Jr., Denver, Colo.) finished with the double-double, 43 assists and 10 digs.
Dropping the first two sets of the match, put the Sharks in an extremely tough position to start the match. Although NSU began the opening set with a 4-0 lead, Union managed to turn things in their favor and eventually went on a 10-6 run to pick up their first lead, 11-10. Both teams traded points until the Bulldogs took a 20-19 lead and never trailed again for the 25-22 win. The Sharks again led early in the second set, but then struggled late as Union scored the last five points of the frame for the 25-20 win to take a two-set advantage.
Down 2-0, the Sharks came into the third set having to win the next three to come out on top with the win. That's exactly what they did and as a result remain unbeaten this season in five-set matches. After breaking a 12-12 tie in the third set, NSU outscored their opposition 12-9 down the stretch to win 25-21 and narrowed the gap 2-1. The fourth set was a complete domination by the Sharks. NSU hit .308 as a team behind five kills from Holger, while Union hit a negative team percentage resulting in a 25-14 Sharks victory to even the match 2-2.
In the decisive fifth set, NSU struggled to grab an early lead. However, trailing 8-6 when the teams switched sides, the Sharks went on an impressive run outscoring Union 9-5 to take the 3-2 win.
The Sharks will have a short turnaround before they return to Florida and face local Sunshine State Conference rival Lynn on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Boca Raton.
