Spartans Defeat No. 22 Nova Southeastern

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The ninth ranked University of Tampa volleyball team continues their dominant play with a win over No. 22 ranked Nova Southeastern University.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:  

Final Score: No. 9 Tampa Spartans 3 (1: 25-23, 2: 30-28, 3: 18-25 4: 20-25 5: 15-13), No. 22 Nova Southeastern University 2

Records: No. 9 Tampa (26-2, 17-1 SSC), No. 22 Nova Southeastern University (22-5, 14-4 SSC)  

Location: Rick Case Arena at the Don Taft University Center || Fort Lauderdale, Fla.   

All-Time Series: Tampa currently leads the all-time series against Nova Southeastern University as the series stands at 35-3. 

Follow Us: @TampaSpartans on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube    

HOW IT HAPPENED:  

First Set: The game opened up with both teams battling throughout the first set. Nova Southeastern was able to keep the game interesting but was never able to take the lead in set 1. Spartans led the set with 8 digs held by Claudia Rivera. || Score: 1-0 Tampa

Second Set: The scoring in the second set was kicked off by Melissa Elias who opened with the first point. Spartans had the lead until the middle of the set, but quickly became a back-and-forth matchup. After a total of four timeouts, two made by Tampa and two by Nova Southeastern, Tampa was able to pull out the set with three back-to-back errors from Nova Southeastern, finalizing the score to 30-28. During the duration of the first two sets, Rivera leads with 15 digs. || Score: 2-0 Tampa

Third Set: Tampa came out on the attack with the first three sets, scoring first to take a quick lead. However, the rest of the set, the Sharks fought back and lead, taking the win by 25-18. || Score: 2-1 NSU 

Fourth Set: The Spartans could not contain a lead in the fourth set, causing the Sharks to pull away. Tampa was able to narrow the deficit and draw a closer score in the fourth set but it proved to not be enough. Taylor Fosler stepped up on the leaderboard for most blocks to this point in the game. The Spartans were not be able to come back, as the Sharks took the fourth set by a score of 25-20. || Score: 2-2 Tied

Fifth Set: The beginning of the fifth set showed a different outcome for the Spartans in the back-and-forth match-up. Tampa called a timeout from the close battle of 13-13. The highly competitive contest would result in Tampa taking home the win by a score of 15-13. || Score: 3-2 Tampa

INSIDE THE STATS:  

• Melissa Elias led the team in assists tonight as she recorded 22.
• Claudia Rivera led the game with 25 digs.
• Kalli Cors led the team with 13 kills with her teammate, Taylor Fosler finished right behind her as she recorded 12 kills.
• Sierra Rayzor led the team with .667 hitting percentage.

UP NEXT: The Spartans will return home to take on Rollins College on Friday, November 19 at 7 PM.

GAMEDAY MULTIMEDIA: Fans may watch all home games and Sunshine State Conference contests on TampaSpartans.tv. Live stats are also available through TampaStats.com.  

Text Alerts: UT also offers a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com.  

Front Row: Download the official app of UT Athletics on the Apple or Android store. Look for the Tampa Spartans Front Row app to receive notifications from your favorite Spartan teams. The app is completely free.