MELBOURNE, Fla. – With a game-high 24 digs, senior libero Megan burns eclipsed the Nova Southeastern career dig record during a three-set loss to the Florida Tech Panthers on Friday evening in the Charles & Ruth Clemente Center. Entering the match, Burns needed just four to tie the record, but now sits plenty over with more than half of her final season left to go.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
FINAL: L, 0-3 (21-25, 23-25, 24-26)
RECORDS: Nova Southeastern Sharks (2-8, 0-3 SSC), Florida Tech Panthers (4-7, 1-2 SSC)
LOCATION: Charles & Ruth Clemente Center | Melbourne, Fla.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
SET 1 | The Sharks fell behind early in the first set, holding the lead only once. At 19-13, the Sharks used a kill from Maya Patterson and back-to-back kills by Leslie Atherton to come within three, 19-16, and force the home team to use their first timeout. FIT came out of the timeout with a four-point run , before a kill by Denvyr Tyler-Palmer sparked a 4-0 run by the Sharks to come within three late in the game, 23-20. NSU wouldn't hold onto the momentum, however, as the Panthers took advantage of Sharks errors to take the first set 25-21.
 
SET 2 | Unlike the first set, it was NSU that held the lead throughout the majority of the second, taking advantage of an early 7-1 run for an 11-7 edge. FIT used a 5-1 run of their own to knot the game, 13-13. NSU continued to push, taking a 20-16 lead before the Panthers took off on a 6-0 run to steal the lead, 22-20. FIT then used three kills by Olivia Hersey to seal the game, 25-23, and take an overall 2-0 lead.
 
SET 3 | Down 11-7, the Sharks rallied with a 6-1 run to steal the lead, 13-12. The game saw four lead changes and seven ties after that until at 23-21 in NSU's favor, the Panthers used a 5-1 run to take the third set, 26-24, and the overall match, 3-0.
 
INSIDE THE STATS:
 

• Tyler-Palmer led the Sharks with her 11 kills, while Atherton followed closely behind with 10 of her own. Tyler-Palmer also added eight digs.
• Maddie Uilk tallied six kills to go along with a team-high four blocks.
• Samantha Blasko and Caylee Cox split the setting duties and tallied 17 and 13 assists, respectively.
• Patterson picked up 11 digs while Rachael Nelson contributed seven.

 
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:
 

• Burns now sits at 1,742 digs in her career.
• Atherton's 10 kills were a season high.
• Tonight's loss puts the overall series at 27-25 in favor of the Panthers.

 
 
UP NEXT
 
The Sharks will continue Sunshine State Conference competition on the road as they face Embry-Riddle on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.
 
 
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Follow along with live updates on Twitter by following @NSU_VBALL.