FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Sophomore libero
Megan Burns made history for the second time this weekend, tallying 39 digs to push her past the 1,000 career-dig milestone. Despite her outstanding accomplishment, the Nova Southeastern volleyball team dropped its fourth consecutive five-set match (17-25, 25-22, 25-19, 22-25, 11-15) to the visiting Tars of Rollins College on Saturday afternoon at the NSU Arena. The Sharks fall to 11-15 overall (3-8 SSC) while Rollins improves to 11-14 overall and 3-7 in Sunshine State Conference play.
Denvyr Tyler-Palmer improved her double-double streak to four with her 15 kills and 11 digs while
Jessica Ronyak tallied 15 kills and added six digs.
Katie Pyles was one kill away from recording back-to-back triple doubles, registering nine kills to go along with her 37 assists and 18 digs.
Jenn Rosado chipped in 8 kills and
Jane Early had four blocks.
The Sharks fell behind early in set one and allowed the Tars to make several multiple-point runs en route to 25-17 win.
Set two saw the tables turn as NSU rallied from 12-7 to take the lead, 14-13. The two teams continued to battle back and forth before at 21-21, NSU went on a 4-1 run to end up on top, 25-22, and tie the match up at a set apiece.
Down 17-16 in the third set the Sharks capitalized on a six-point run, including three service aces from Pyles to take the late-set lead, 22-17. Kills by Rosado and Tyler-Palmer and an error by the Tars gave NSU the final three points they needed to win, 25-19, and the Sharks took the overall lead, two sets to one.
The fourth set was an absolute battle between the Sharks and the Tars, seeing 19 total ties and 12 lead changes. The two teams stayed within two points of each other the entire set, until at 22-22, Rollins took advantage of errors by the Sharks and a service ace to steal the victory, 25-22, to force a final set.
The Sharks held the lead through the early stages of the fifth set until Rollins went on a 7-1 run to take the lead, 12-8. The two teams went tic for toe on points until eventually, a kill by Bri Civiero (who also hit a 1,000 mark tonight, but in kills) ended the match with Rollins on top.
NSU will play again on Tuesday, this time on the road as they travel to No. 12 Palm Beach Atlantic to try and avenge its earlier-season loss at home. For both live stats and video, find the links at NSUSharks.com.