FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern volleyball team fell to 6-6 on the season with a tough five-set loss to the visiting Eckerd Tritons on Saturday afternoon at the NSU Arena. The Sharks fell 3-2 (14-25, 25-19, 25-27, 25-21, 10-15) to fall to 1-3 in Sunshine State Conference play while EC improved to 8-4 overall and 2-1 in league play.
 
Tashalyn Begon led all Sharks with 16 kills while Jessica Ronyak notched a double-double with her 13 kills and 10 digs. Denvyr Tyler-Palmer recorded 13 kills as well, and Megan Burns contributed 30 digs. Samantha Blasko tallied 42 assists, a career-high, to go along with nine digs.
 
The Tritons jumped out of the gates in set one, out-hitting the Sharks .370 to .118 good enough to earn a 25-14 win, grabbing a 1-0 lead.
 
NSU held a one-point lead (9-8) before a kill by Ronyak sparked a 7-2 run to push the Sharks ahead, 16-10. The Tritons fought back to regain the lead at 17-14 but another kill by Ronyak and three consecutive errors committed by Eckerd put NSU comfortably ahead, 21-14. The Sharks maintained a sizable advantage en route to a 25-19 victory that tied the match at a set apiece, hitting .387 as a team, the best by either team all night.
 
The Tritons got off to a blistering start in the third set, taking an early 7-2 lead. The Sharks were able to rally back to tie things up, 16-16, and continued to fight, tying the game six more times forcing the set into extra points where EC ultimately ended up on top, 27-25.
 
The early stages of set four were opposite of those in set three, this time NSU held the early advantage, 7-3, before Eckerd fought to come within two, 9-7. The Sharks then took off a 9-2 run capped with a kill by Tyler-Palmer to steal an 18-9 advantage. Eckerd didn't cower however, and responded with a 8-1 run to come back within two, 19-17. After a timeout called by head coach Jennifer King, the Sharks bounced back, scoring five consecutive points to force match point, 24-19. The Tritons attempted to rally, but fell short, as an error halted their scoring streak and ended the game at 25-21 in NSU's favor, forcing the decision set.
 
Nova Southeastern could not have gotten off to a worse start to the fifth set, falling behind 6-0, and were only able to fight to come within four points (13-9), the closest the Sharks would get in the fifth frame as Eckerd held on for a 15-10 win.
 
NSU will hit the road again next weekend as it travels to take on Rollins on Sept. 30 before facing off against SSC provisional member Embry-Riddle on Oct. 1.
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