MELBOURNE, Fla. -- The Nova Southeastern University volleyball team (10-1, 3-0 SSC) won a tough fought Sunshine State Conference matchup on the road Friday night 3-2 against the Florida Tech Panthers (6-3, 1-1 SSC). The Sharks won the five-set battle at the Clemente Center 21-25, 26-24, 23-25, 25-23, 15-11. 

"We knew coming into the match that Florida Tech was a great team and had an amazing game atmosphere," head coach Jenn King said. "And they delivered on both! We played with a lot more errors than normal and it took all our #GR1T to get through it. Dana, Kaelyn and Katie really stepped up and carried a big load tonight."

Senior Dana Holger (Lino Lakes, Minn.) carried a bulk of that load posting a career night to help lead the Sharks to victory lane. She finished with a .302 hitting percentage and posted a career-best 22 kills on 53 swings to lead the team. She added 11 digs to the mix to finish with her third double-double of the 2015 season.

Katie Pyles (Jr., Denver, Colo.) finished one kill shy of a a triple-double after recording 46 assists, 13 digs and nine kills. Denvyr Tyler-Palmer (Fr., Jacksonville, Fla.) finished second on the team with 18 kills, while Kaelyn Brock (So., La Quinta, Calif.) collected 19 digs for the second match in a row. Megan Burns (Fr., Slyvania, Ohio) added 12 digs defensively. 

The Sharks struggled early dropping the first set 25-21 to the Panthers. NSU was down 17-10 at one point during the set, but managed to capitalize on several FIT mistakes to pull to within three points, but ended with only six kills on 32 attempts and nine errors to fall behind 1-0 in the match. 

After the three minute intermission between sets, the Sharks pulled together on the offensive side of the ball and hit an impressive .364 team percentage. NSU led early, but the set was as tight as any could be as neither team let the other take more than a three point lead. The Sharks  went on to fight off 10 ties down the stretch to pull out a 26-24 win to even the match at 1-1. 

The third set went to Florida Tech 25-23 taking a 2-1 lead in the match to send it into a fourth set. The fourth was just as competitive as the previous two frames, but NSU managed to take a 25-23 win over FIT to tie the match at 2-2 sending it into the decisive fifth set. 

Tyler-Palmer started the final frame with a service ace, but the Panthers managed to come back and take an 8-7 lead before the teams switched sides. However, as they have done all season, the Sharks dug deep and showed their relentless competitive side and outscored the Panthers 8-3 to take the fifth set 15-11 and the win 3-2.

The Sharks have played four matches this season that have been extended to five sets. With tonight's notch in the win column, NSU remains undefeated at 4-0 in five-set matches. 

The Sharks will return to action on Saturday taking on the No. 9 Florida Southern Moccasins at the Jenkins Field House at 4 p.m. in Sunshine State Conference play.