FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Heading into their final regular season match, the Nova Southeastern University volleyball team (19-11, 9-6 SSC), will face the No. 6-ranked Tampa Spartans on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. on the road at the Bob Martinez Center to close out the 2015 regular season.
Only a day away from closing out their 2015 regular season schedule, the Sharks are on the tail end of a banner season, with a possible postseason berth still on the line. This year, the Sharks have posted their first winning season at 19-11 and are regionally ranked for the first time since 2009. Not to mention several individuals have reached career milestones along the way that will be forever noted in the record books. However, they will have to face a highly touted Spartan team that stands atop of the SSC standings with a 14-1 conference record.
Tampa comes into the match as the sixth-ranked team in the latest AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association) top 25 national poll. They are currently on a four-match win streak with their latest win coming over conference opponent Lynn. Ironically, the Spartans' only conference loss was to Lynn earlier in the year, a team NSU has swept during the regular season.
In Saturday's match, the Sharks will have to contend with the Tampa's power offense as well. The Spartans are a team that leads the league in most offensive categories behind the play of All-Americans Berkley Whaley and Jessica Wagner. Wagner tops all SSC hitters with a .426 hitting percentage and Whaley is second in kills per set. And when talking about Tampa's high octane offense, Marissa Lisenbee can't be neglected either as the fourth-ranked hitter averaging just over 3.5 kills/set.
The Sharks are coming off a 1-1 week where they split between Eckerd and Saint Leo. Last Friday, NSU suffered a 3-1 loss to the Tritons during homecoming, but came back and defeated Saint Leo 3-2 on senior day to close out the regular season home schedule. Their five-set win over the Lions extended their win streak to 8-0 in matches that have been extended to five sets.
Dana Holger (Sr., Lino Lakes, Minn.) continues to power the NSU offense and ranks third in the league in kills per set right between Tampa's Lisenbee and Whaley. Senior
Caitlin Donahue (Miami, Fla.) has come on strong in the second half of the season and she is now second behind Tampa's Wagner in individual hitting percentage all of which matches NSU up well with Tampa offensively.
Senior
Sydney Cook (Miami, Fla.) is starting to return to form as well after sitting out a third of the Sharks' matches this season and looking to make an impact Saturday. Having made a mid-season transition from defensively specialist to the starting libero,
Megan Burns (Fr., Sylvania, Ohio) has made her defensive presence known after a 36-dig performance in NSU's last home match. It was a new career-high for Burns and a new single season record for NSU volleyball.
Both live video streaming and live stats will be available during Saturday's contest, by visiting
www.NSUSharks.com.
