FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University volleyball team (7-1, 1-0 SSC) opened up Sunshine State Conference play at home in exciting fashion posting a 3-2 win over local conference rival Barry (2-2, 0-1 SSC). The Sharks won the five-set marathon 15-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-18, 15-13 on Friday night at the NSU Arena at the Don Taft University Center.
 
However, it wasn't just an exciting win to open conference play. It was beyond emotion. By the end of the night, senior outside hitter Sydney Cook (Miami, Fla.) hit a career milestone that rendered her nearly speechless. She did what only a few before her had ever done in NSU volleyball history. Cook posted a double-double performance (16 kills, 16 digs) putting her over the 1,000 kill mark for her career and became just the ninth player in program history to reach that milestone.
 
Friday night's match was as exciting and emotionally charged as any competition against a conference rival can be. And…the home team came out victorious. Although NSU struggled early dropping the first set 25-15, the Sharks came back and evened the score 1-1 with a 25-19 win in set two.
 
The Sharks carried that energy into the third set and jumped out to an early 12-6 lead over the visiting Buccaneers. However, they soon watched that lead slip away when Barry capitalized on a few home team miscues and went on a 12-3 scoring run to regain an 18-15 lead. The Bucs went on to win the set 25-21 putting the Sharks in a position to win the final two sets.
 
And that's just what happened. With the score tied eight all in the fourth set, NSU outscored Barry 9-1 over the next 10 serves for a 17-9 lead that was never given up as the Sharks evened the match again at two sets apiece with the 25-18 win. In the final frame, Barry took an early lead 8-6. However, after the teams switched sides NSU demonstrated their "team grit" to come back and tie the set. After going point-for-point, Dana Holger (Sr., Lino Lakes, Minn.) gave the Sharks their final lead 14-13 and Cook closed out a career night with her 16^th kill of the match to propel NSU to a 15-13 win to take the match.
 
Senior Caitlin Donahue (Miami, Fla.) added 10 kills on a .348 hitting percentage, while Denvyr Tyler-Palmer (Fr., Jacksonville, Fla.) added 11. Sophomore Devyn Main (Port Charlotte, Fla.) hit a blistering .750 percentage to lead the team, while Kaelyn Brock finished with a team-high 17 digs.
 
The Sharks will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 19 with two matches on the schedule. They will face another conference rival in Lynn at 2 p.m. followed by a 6 p.m. matchup against regional contender Flagler.