Tampa Falls To Nova Southeastern in 5 Sets

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Nova Southeastern Sharks Hand Spartans First Loss of 2023

Final Score: Tampa 2 (1: 21-25, 2: 25-19, 3: 25-11, 4: 20-25, 5: 10-15), Nova Southeastern 3

Records: No. 2 Tampa (24-1, 15-1 SSC), Nova Southeastern (18-8, 9-6 SSC)

Location: Rick Case Arena | Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

HOW IT HAPPENED: 

First Set: The Sharks jumped out to a 4-0 lead over the Spartans, who responded with an immediate 3 straight but, Nova Southeastern held onto their lead going into an early Tampa timeout at 6-10. The Spartans were able to score the next 2 points following the timeout by way of a kill and an ace from Mackenzie Dufresne. However, the Sharks scored another 5 straight which helped them maintain a lead through the rest of the set. Tampa called their second timeout upon falling behind 23-20, but it wasn't enough as Nova prevailed. | Score: 25-21 Nova Southeastern

Second Set: The Sharks and Spartans were much closer together in the score during the second set, which had a total of 4 lead changes and 10 separate points where the two teams were tied. After being knotted at 12 points each, Tampa went on a 6-3 run, aided by 3 kills from Nathaly Perez. Nova had to call their first two timeouts of the day toward the end of the set as they fell down 4 points at 21-17. Coach Catanach signaled a Spartan timeout after two kills from the Sharks. But with back-to-back kills from Jenna Vaske and Alicia Kowalski, the Spartans closed out the second set, tying the match at one set apiece.  | Score: 25-19 Tampa

Third Set: An early ace from JJ Ramirez put the Spartans ahead of the Sharks, who ultimately called a timeout, at 7-3. Tampa stayed strong through the timeout by going an 8-3 run over Nova, who attempted to suppress the Spartans with their second timeout, following an ace from Zoey Seput. Unfortunately for the Sharks' third set hopes, the Spartans responded to this timeout similar to how they handled the first, scoring 8 out of the next 10 points. Vaske closed out the second set by adding another kill for the Spartans, who hit .435 as a collective during the set.  | Score: 25-11 Tampa

Fourth Set: Similar to the first set, Nova got out to an early lead in the fourth, eventually up to 8-4 before Tampa called their first timeout of the set. As the Spartans weren't able to close the gap and catch up to the Sharks through the middle of the set, they called another timeout, now down 14-20. Although coming out of the break showing signs of life, the Nova lead was too much for Tampa; In a set where Tess Schrenger and Perez accounted for 8 of the 14 kills recorded, Tampa still wasn't able to prevail over Nova as the set was closed out from an attack error against the visitors.  | Score: 20-25 Nova Southeastern

Fifth Set: With the Spartans eyeing their perfect season thus far and the Sharks attempting to beat the no. 2 ranked team in the country, both teams exchanged what felt like crucial blows in the beginning of the fifth and final set of the day. However, Catanach was forced to call his first timeout in response to two Nova Southeastern kills, which put the home team ahead 7-10. Unfortunately, Tampa wasn't able to overcome the Nova offense, which recorded 13 kills in the final set and ended the Spartan's perfect season.   | Score: 10-15  Nova Southeastern

INSIDE THE STATS:

• JJ Ramirez led the match with 27 digs
• Nathaly Perez recorded 15 kills along with 5 blocks
• Mackenzie Dufresne tallied a hitting percentage of .714