The Spartans rally to avoid near loss in Shark Infested Waters

Fort Lauderdale, FL. – UTampa persevered after falling down 2 sets to Nova Southeastern in thrilling fashion.

Final Score: Tampa 3 (1: 20-25, 2: 17-25, 3: 26-24, 4: 25-16, 5: 19-17 ), Nova Southeastern 2

Records: Tampa (13-2, 5-2 SSC), Nova Southeastern (15-5, 6-4 SSC)

Location: Rick Case Arena | Fort Lauderdale, FL.

HOW IT HAPPENED: 

First Set: UTampa and Nova exchanged a few quick points to kick off the match but, Head Coach Chris Catanach was forced to call an early Spartan timeout after the Sharks rattled off 6 straight and held an 8-4 lead. The Spartans were able to catch back up and two strong kills from Mak Carter and Connor Rahn, followed by a Shark error, sent Nova Southeastern into their first timeout of the day with the set knotted at 16. However, the stoppage was enough for the hosts of the match to regain control of the set and, even through a late Tampa timeout, close out the first set with a 5-point lead.     | Score: 25-20 Nova Southern

Second Set: The Sharks carried their offensive surge from the end of the first set into the second, but the Spartans matched the tempo with kills from 5 different players before calling a timeout down 10-13. Unable to gain any match momentum in the middle plays of the set after their break, Tampa had to call another timeout, now down 14-19, to avoid being down 2 sets to none. Unfortunately for Tampa, Nova closed out the second set after capturing 6 of the last 9 points. | Score 25-17 Nova

Third Set: The third set began with some back-and-forth action but, after Nova scored 6 of 7 points to mitigate an early Spartan lead and tie the set at 11 points each, Catanach wanted a timeout. The two teams traded leads in the middle stages of the set with Nova calling a timeout as they were down 21-20 which aided them in regaining the lead very late. The odds were stacked against the Spartans as they called their second timeout of the set down 24-22 but, 2 dominating kills from Nathaly Perez and Zoey Seput propelled Tampa to score 4 straight points and win the set. | Score: 26-24 Tampa

Fourth Set: Now with a set under their belt the Spartans could comfortably exchange some initial blows with the Sharks and after scoring 6 of 7 points, the Sharks called their first timeout of the set. Following the break, UTampa scored 7 straight points, which was only interrupted by another timeout called by Nova, giving the visitors their largest lead of the day at 19-9. Holding the Sharks to a team-hitting percentage of -.053, and 2 kills from Rahn closed out the final points for the Spartans, and their 9-point lead, for the set. | Score: 25-16 Tampa

Fifth Set: The fifth and final set saw the two teams tied a total of 14 times, to go along with 5 different lead changes. The Spartans, as a team, saved their best for last as they had a hitting percentage of .286, their highest of any set. The Sharks and the Spartans used both of their timeouts in an alternating fashion, as neither team could sustain a solid lead over the other. However, back-to-back kills from Jenna Davis and, finally, Rahn, helped the visiting Spartans end the thrilling match.  | Score: 19-17 Tampa

INSIDE THE STATS:

• Freshman, Rahn led the match with 17 kills.
• Seput assisted on 47 plays.
• Davis (.385), Jenna Vaske (.333), and Rahn (.319) led the Spartans hitting percentage.