Box Score MELBOURNE, Fla. – Nova Southeastern University Sharks Volleyball setter
Abbie Roth collected her 1,000
th career assist as the Sharks comeback effort fell just short in a five-set loss to Florida Tech in the Sharks' Sunshine State Conference-opener.
NSU outside hitter
Erika Spankus went down during pregame warmups leading head coach
Matt Geer to make a change just minutes before first serve with the Sharks needing to change up the gameplan without their top kill-getter in Spankus.
The new plan worked after some adjustments as the Sharks collected 11 total blocks as a team, but 13 service errors against the Sharks and 16 blocks from Florida Tech helped push the Panthers to victory in the decisive fifth set.
Roth,
Natalya Bergant and
Caiden Largent all collected double-doubles as Roth collected 44 assists to 15 digs, Bergant with 12 kills to 14 digs and Largent collected 18 kills and 11 digs.
Records: Nova Southeastern 7-5 (0-1 SSC) | Florida Tech 3-6 (1-0 SSC)
Location: Clemente Center | Melbourne, Fla.
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First Set (25-11, FIT) – In the Panthers' home-opener, they came out hot dominating the first set and forcing NSU into a hitting percentage of -.125%. The Sharks claimed the first two points of the match but the Panthers went on runs of 7-0, and 9-0 respectively. By that point the damage was done leading Tech to hand NSU its worst set loss of the season.
Second Set (25-20, FIT) – NSU clawed back finding kills from
Natalya Bergant and
Hadley Dantzler without Spankus on the front row.
Abbie Roth got her ninth assist of the match for her 1,000
th of her career. Roth, who had 615 assists in her freshman season, already captured 1,000 assists in just her sophomore season. Later in the set, NSU found itself down just a point at 21-20 but Florida Tech would score the next four points to win the set to take a two sets to none lead.
Third Set (25-20, NSU) – The Sharks came back with a vengeance in front of a hostile pro-Panther crowd. NSU came out on fire with an 8-1 to start the set which featured kills from
Caiden Largent,
Natalya Bergant and
Abbie Roth. Despite NSU building a large lead, the Panthers clawed back using a seven-point unanswered streak to take the lead. NSU found an uncharacteristic three kills from
Brooke Spurgeon late in the set, which helped her set a new career high to help the Sharks take the set. NSU hit a match-best .324 in the frame.
Fourth Set (25-20, NSU) – NSU got another hot start with an early 5-1 lead building on blocks from
Natalya Bergant,
Mia Mccurley,
Hadley Dantzler and even
Brooke Spurgeon who also set a new career high in assisted blocks and total blocks. The Sharks looked like a team reinvented after the first two sets went the Panthers' way. Tech drew within a trio prompting a timeout from head coach
Matt Geer. After the timeout NSU took three of the next four sets to tie the match at two sets apiece and forcing the first five-set match of the season for the Sharks.
Fifth Set (16-14, FIT) – Florida Tech was able to ignore the Shark momentum going on two quick spurts of three points forcing a quick NSU timeout at 6-3. The Sharks used the coaching staff's words and put them into action scoring the next four points coming out of the huddle. Tech and NSU played into six ties in the set eventually getting to 10-10 putting the entire match into a first to five scenario. Tech took the next two points forcing NSU's second timeout. The timeout couldn't stop the bleeding as Tech continued into a 4-0 run putting the score at 13-10 before NSU found a point. FIT pushed what it thought was match point at 14-11 but a successful challenge by
Matt Geer was able to turn the tides using back-to-back service aces from
Amalee Doyle to force match point for the Sharks at 14-13. However, a service error and FIT block turned it into match point for the Panthers. Florida Tech would get what it was searching for, for three sets, with a NSU attacking error to take the win.
Nova Southeastern returns home on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 4 p.m. for its SSC home-opener against arch-rival Barry. Four of the last five meetings the Sharks have had with the Buccaneers have gone five sets.
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