FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern volleyball team broke their nine-game slide with a straight-set victory (25-13, 25-14, 25-16) over the Florida Tech Panthers Tuesday evening in the NSU Arena.
Tashalyn Begon led all players with 12 kills, committing just one error resulting in a team-leading .550 hitting percentage. She also added four blocks.
Denvyr Tyler-Palmer tallied eight kills to go along with seven digs while
Jessica Ronyak and
Katie Pyles each added six kills. Ronyak also registered four blocks and Pyles contributed 29 assists with nine digs.
Natalie Melcher was a wall at the net, putting up nine blocks total.
Megan Burns led the defense with 16 digs. As a team, the Sharks hit .283, while holding the Panthers to a mere .009 hitting percentage.
The first set saw five ties before the Sharks exploded on a 12-1 run ignited by a Begon kill to grab an overwhelming 17-7 lead. The two teams traded points back and forth until finally at 24-13, Pyles ended the set with a setter dump and the Sharks took the 1-0 lead.
NSU showed no mercy in the early stages of set two, jumping out to a 10-2 lead. At 18-11, NSU took advantage of kills by Pyles, Ronyak and Begon and an error by the Panthers to grab their largest lead of the set, 22-11. FIT added three more points on errors and a kill by Kiayna O'Neal but the Sharks put an end to their scoring with back-to-back points to end up on top, 25-14.
Set three was the closest of all the sets, as the Panthers stayed within two points until the Sharks pulled away at 14-12 with five straight points, capped with a service ace by Elysaa Stimmell. At 16-21, the Sharks utilized three errors by FIT and a kill by Tyler-Palmer to end the set, 25-16, and leave with the 3-0 victory.
The Sharks will continue at home this weekend, playing their last two matches of the season. On Friday, they will host Saint Leo at 7:00 p.m. before they take on No. 24 Tampa on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. for Senior Night. For both live stats and video for the matches, find the links at NSUSharks.com.
