FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – With a full day of volleyball competition in the books, the Nova Southeastern University volleyball team (1-0) closed out the first day of the NSU Sharks Invitational with a 3-0 win over East Central on Friday night at the NSU Arena at the Don Taft University Center. Despite the tight matchup, the Sharks pinned down the three-set victory 30-28, 25-20, 27-25.
 
Senior outside Dana Holger (Lino Lakes, Minn.) paced the Sharks offense with 14 kills, nine digs and a .312 hitting percentage in the win. Caitlin Donahue (Sr., Miami, Fla.) added a .353 hit percentage on 8 kills and one block, while Katie Pyles (Jr., Denver, Colo.) served up three aces and added 28 assists.
 
The Sharks struggled on the serve receive allowing the Tigers to rattle off a 10-4 lead to start the first set. However, NSU displayed their resolve going on a 14-4 scoring run taking a four point lead, 18-14. The run started with Holger's first kill of 14 and ended on a kill by Donahue. East Central fought back and kept the score within one through the 28^th point, but NSU capitalized on two Tiger miscues to take the first set 30-28.
 
The second set remained close through the first 12 points. With the score tied 12-12, freshman outside Denvyr Tyler-Palmer (Jacksonville, Fla.) recorded a kill to give the Sharks a one point advantage, a lead they never relinquished for a 25-20 set two victory.
 
With a two set advantage, NSU struggled early in the third and final set. A déjà vu like experience just like the first set, ECU took a seven point lead 21-13 to start the final frame. After an NSU timeout, the lead extended to eight, but the Sharks began to claw their way back and eventually tied the set 23-23. After trading a few points back and forth, Pyles closed out the match with back-to-back aces to give NSU the win.
 
East Central's Hayley Gerken recorded 12 kills and a .409 hitting percentage to lead the Tigers, while Lily Porsa posted a match-high 17 digs.
 
The Sharks will return to action on Saturday for the final day of the NSU Sharks Invitational with a pair of matches. They will face Virginia State at 2 p.m. followed by a 7 p.m. matchup against Westminster.
 
To view the full tournament schedule, please visit the Shark Invitational Tournament website at the top of this release. Live video will be provided for selected matches played on the main court and live stats will be available for all matches and links to each will be made available on the tournament webpage.