ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – In its ninth five-set match of the season, the Sharks fell to the host Tritons of Eckerd College. The loss drops NSU to 11-12 for the overall season and 3-7 in Sunshine State Conference play while Eckerd improves to 15-7 overall and 7-3 against fellow league members.
Denvyr Tyler-Palmer led all players with 26 kills (her second highest number of the season) and made it a double-double with 13 digs.
Jessica Ronyak chipped in 15 kills and nine digs and
Megan Burns recorded 16 digs.
Katie Pyles notched 49 assists with eight kills and nine digs and
Jane Early had a total of four blocks, including one solo.
After earning an early 4-0 lead in the first set, the Tritons evened the score with four consecutive points of their own to begin a back-and-forth battle between the two teams that lasted until the Sharks took back the lead, 14-12. The Sharks continued to put on the heat, grabbing their largest lead of the set, 22-15, before errors by the Tritons and a kill by
Kerrigan McVicker pushed the Sharks to a 22-18 win.
Set two was similar to the first, proving to be a battle before Eckerd tallied three points in a row for a 23-21 late advantage. An error by EC put the Sharks within one, 23-22, but after the two teams rallied back and forth, the Tritons finished the match on a kill by Madison Whiting to knot the overall score a set apiece.
Down 2-0 in the third, NSU utilized a kill by Ronyak and three consecutive service aces by
Megan Burns to steal the lead, 4-2, and continued to hold that lead throughout the entire set, allowing the Tritons to tie things up only three times. Up 24-21, a kill by Tyler-Palmer put the Sharks back in the lead, 2-1, with a 25-21 set-three win.
The fourth set saw the strongest offensive outings from either team, with Nova Southeastern hitting .387 as a team and Eckerd registering a flaming .441 team hitting percentage. With 18 total kills, the Tritons controlled the offense and held the lead throughout the set en route to a 25-21 win to force the match to a decision fifth set.
The two teams traded the lead four times in the final set before the Tritons took off on a 6-3 run to earn a 15-10 win and overall 3-2 victory.
The Sharks will compete again tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. at No. 24 Florida Southern for links to both live stats and video, head to NSUSharks.com.
