FORT LAUDERDALE – The weekend came to a close on Saturday afternoon for the Nova Southeastern University volleyball team (11-4), but not in the hopeful fashion they had anticipated. The Sharks suffered a heartbreaking, but thrilling 3-1 loss to Sunshine State Conference provisional member Embry Riddle (10-3) that finished off a three-match week at the NSU Arena at the Don Taft University Center (25-21, 18-25, 29-31, 16-25).
Despite the week-ending loss, there were a few exceptional performances and eye-popping numbers that stood out for NSU in their final match of the week. First,
Katie Pyles (Jr., Denver, Colo.) recorded her first triple-double performance this season finishing with 11 kills, 47 assists and 11 digs; not to mention hitting a whopping .409 offensively. She now has four career triple doubles as a Shark.
Kaelyn Brock (So., La Quinta, Calif.) seemed to be everywhere on the court all afternoon covering the opposing attack as well as serve receive. She ended with a career-high 25 digs on the day and even helped out a little offensively adding five assists.
Denvyr Tyler-Palmer (Fr., Jacksonville, Fla.) added her second straight double-double finishing with 17 kills and 17 digs giving her three very early in her rookie season.
Veterans
Dana Holger (Sr., Lino Lakes, Fla.) and
Caitlin Donahue (Sr., Miami, Fla.) added some offensive power to the mix as well. Holger finished with 17 kills and Donahue added 12 of her own and posted a .407 hitting percentage. It was the first time where Donahue has recorded double-digit kills and hit over. 400 in consecutive matches this season. Both
Megan Burns (Fr., Sylvania, Ohio) and
Samantha Blasko (Fr., Ocala, Fla.) finished with 13 and 12 digs respectively. Blasko's 12 digs is a career high.
After fighting off seven different ties to start the match, NSU took a 9-8 lead early on in the first set after a Donahue kill. The Sharks then went on a 10-3 scoring run that extended their lead to eight. Despite their best efforts and taking the next four points to narrow the lead to four, Embry Riddle came up on the short end and dropped the first set 25-21 as NSU took a 1-0 match lead.
In the second set, it was a different Eagles team that came out onto the court and played nearly flawless volleyball. ERAU dominated offensively hitting .378 as a team and committed only one offensive error en route to a 25-18 win to even the match at 1-1. Down by five at one point in the third, NSU rallied back and tied the frame at 17 all. From there, both teams went neck-and-neck down the stretch and Embry Riddle fended off four set points to pick up a 31-29 set three win and took a 2-1 lead in the match. The Eagles went on to replicate their second-set performance outlasting the Sharks 25-16 for the 3-1 win.
The Sharks head back out on the road beginning Oct. 9-10 for a two-match SSC road trip. NSU will face Saint Leo at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9 followed by a 4 p.m. match at Eckerd on Oct. 10.
