ST. PAUL, Minn. (Dec. 4, 2008) - The Nova Southeastern University volleyball team ran out of magic in their NCAA Division II Quarterfinal match vs. No. 8 nationally ranked Truman State, falling in three sets by the scores of 21-25, 20-25 and 20-25 in action on Thursday afternoon. The Sharks post-season run marks the furthest the team has ever advanced in program history; falling just three victories shy of a national title and conclude their season at 24-12. Truman State improves to 33-7 and will advance to its third National Semifinal match in program history.
In a game of runs, Nova Southeastern gained an early edge over Truman State, the South Central Region Champions, to lead 5-0. The Bulldogs answered back by going on a 17-3 run to lead 17-8 and force a NSU timeout. The Sharks retaliated with a 12-3 run of its own to knot the contest at 20 and regain momentum before Truman closed the set with a 5-1 stretch to take a 25-21 decision in the opening set. NSU was out-hit .061 to .000 in the set. AVCA honorable mention All-American Emily Carle (Sr., Missouri City, Tex.) and Melinda Gorman (Sr., Sarasota, Fla.) paced NSU with three kills apiece while five Truman State players posted two kills apiece.
Senior outside hitter Eli Medina had a team high eight kills for the Bulldogs. She was also the team dig leader with 16 saves. Lisa Weber came in with seven kills, five block assists and five digs. Whitney Boehler had 13 digs, followed by Dana Hanselmann with ten. The setting game was split between Kylie Easlon and Ashley Petak with 17 and 13 assists each, respectively
The match marked the conclusion of the careers of NSU seniors Emily Carle, Christina Chubb (Oakland Park, Fla.), Melinda Gorman, Andrea Irarrazabal (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and Valia Petrova. After the match, Gorman commented "Starting off my freshman year, we went 4-19, were last in the conference and only won one conference game. The five seniors on this team have made some traditions and set a standard for others to follow."
No comments:
Post a Comment