LAKELAND, Fla. – Nova Southeastern University Sharks Volleyball snapped a seven-match slide with an intense five set victory over Florida Southern for the Sharks' first road victory of the season.
Records: Nova Southeastern 9-13 (2-9 SSC) | Florida Southern 10-9 (5-6 SSC)
Location: George W. Jenkins Field House | Lakeland, Fla.
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First Set (25-22, FSC) – With both sides coming off losses to two of the nation's top ten teams, the Sharks and Mocs battled evenly through the first half of the opening set with neither side gaining separation of more than four points. In the later stages of the set, the Sharks stormed back using a 6-1 run to draw back to a tie and the lead with a block and a kill from
Hadley Dantzler and a kill from
Caiden Largent to help the Sharks get back into the set, pushing Florida Southern to use a timeout. The Mocs executed the timeout to perfection scoring the next three points and forcing NSU to take its first timeout in turn. Florida Southern could not be stopped finishing off the set before NSU could claw back into it. Seven different Mocs had two or more kills in the set.
Second Set (26-24, NSU) – NSU took an early lead over the Mocs and held on for dear life never relinquishing the lead back to Southern despite the set featuring eight ties.
Caiden Largent,
Taylor Norris and
Hadley Dantzler all collected kills down the stretch while the Sharks earned three points in the frame from service aces and a hitting percentage of .226 for NSU in one of its best statistical sets over the last month.
Abbie Roth collected a set-attack kill forcing set point at 24-22 with FSC using a timeout trying to stave off the Sharks tying the match. The timeout worked for the Mocs, disrupting the Sharks' rhythm tying the set at 24-24 with a quick timeout from the Sharks and head coach
Matt Geer. NSU came off the bench following the timeout and quickly took the next two points to clinch the set. It is the fourth set won by the Sharks over 25 points.
Third Set (25-22, NSU) – The Sharks exploded out of the gates in the first third of the set going on a 9-1 run with 3.5 points from
Natalya Bergant to take an 11-5 lead before the Mocs started to chip away bit-by-bit. FSC drew back to a tie at 15-15 and eventually led 19-16 after a 14-5 run. But the Sharks were persistent, refusing to go away and gnawing at the Mocs forcing the two sides into another tight finish down the stretch.
Hadley Dantzler and
Brooke Spurgeon both collected kills after both teams crossed the 20 point threshold with a
Caiden Largent kill setting up set point at 24-22. It was Dantzler who finished the job on a first ball kill to put the Mocs on the ropes in Lakeland.
Fourth Set (25-16, FSC) – FSC and NSU battled with not much room between the two as neither earned true separation until the Mocs put together an 11-3 run to take an eight point advantage at 19-11 forcing a Shark timeout. The Sharks attempted a late rally with kills from
Caiden Largent and
Taylor Norris with that duo combining for a block assist as well, but it wasn't enough as the Moccasins were able to force a decisive fifth set with momentum with the dominant victory in the penultimate frame.
Fifth Set (15-13, NSU) – NSU came into the final set in Lakeland having gone 0-7 in true road contests on the season with its lone match going five sets going against the Sharks. NSU took the first point of the fifth but a quick 4-0 run from Southern forced an early timeout from
Matt Geer at 5-2. The Mocs continued to push the pace of the final frame leading by as many as five in the race to 15. But again, it was the Sharks who were persistent and refusing to go away leading a run of three unanswered, capped by a Dantzler kill, which forced the first timeout of the set from FSC. The timeout didn't deter the hungry Sharks as they scored three of the next four points to re-tie the set at 10 forcing the final timeout from the Mocs' head coach. Once again, the timeout refused to quell the red-hot Nova Southeastern squad with kills from
Natalya Bergant and
Abbie Roth pushing NSU in front. With the Sharks leading 13-10, it was the Mocs' turn to up the pressure as back-to-back NSU errors put the Sharks in a timeout situation. It worked to perfection as a
Brooke Spurgeon kill set up match point at 14-12 for a Moccasin error to give the Sharks their first road win of the season. The Sharks hit .333 in the final set with eight kills to just one attacking error.
Caiden Largent led the team with a season-high 20.0 points with 18 kills and 11 digs for her fourth double-double of the season.
Hadley Dantzler also collected 10 kills while also leading the team in blocks with five block assists.
Taylor Teaman and
Brooke Spurgeon led defensively as each collected 20+ digs with Teaman leading with 23.
Abbie Roth excelled at the setter position adding 38 to her season total.
Nova Southeastern has one more weekend away from home amid its five-match road trip taking on Eckerd and Saint Leo on Friday, Oct. 23 and Saturday, Oct. 24, respectively. First serve against the Tritons on Friday night is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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