DAVIE, Fla. -- Barry University's volleyball team dropped a conference match to Nova Southeastern Tuesday night, 25-23, 30-32, 25-22, 25-17.
The Buccaneers (17-11, 7-8 Sunshine State Conference) will conclude the regular season at No. 1 Tampa Friday. Friday's match can be seen on the Spartans Live Stream and followed via Live Stats on Tampa's network on the links below.
The Bucs, who matched coach Steve Hendricks' career-best win total last weekend in a dynamite three-set victory over Saint Leo, battled the Sharks (13-14, 6-9) to 44 ties and 17 lead changes. There were 17 ties in the second set alone.
Barry built a 17-9 lead in the first set when it used an 8-0 run during Ivana Didanovic's serve. Tashalyn Begon, who finished with 15 kills and seven digs, had two putaways, and setter Jenny Trinidad added two kills, three assists and a block during that surge. But Nova rallied from behind to win the opening set.
In the second set, the Buccaneers used a kill by Kristina Boncheva and a Sharks attack error to stake a 16-11 lead. NSU fought back to even the set at 17-17 before it turned into a see-saw extended set. Jayla Trombley's kill gave the Bucs two set points, 24-22, before Nova tied it back up, winning the next two points.
A kill by Katie Pyles put the Sharks within a point of taking a two-set lead, 26-25, but Trombley answered with a kill following a Bucs timeout to square things up again. A kill by Begon squashed another set point opportunity by the Sharks to tie it up, 29-29, and Boncheva followed with a blast to give the Buccaneers control. Nova evened the score at 30-30 before a Sharks error and kill by Trombley tied the match at 1-1.
The Bucs hit .395 in the second set, and converted 66 percent of their sideouts.
After the intermission, Barry took an 18-17 lead in the third set when Boncheva banged down a setup from Brittany Jaco. The Sharks responded by winning three of the next four serves to take a 20-19 lead. Didanovic's putaway on one of Trinidad's 44 assists tied the score at 21-21. But the Bucs were only able to to salvage a kill by Trombley over the final five serves as Nova took a 2-1 lead in securing the critical third set.
Begon's kill midway through the decisive fourth set gave Barry a 14-13 lead. A block by Laine Cielena and Boncheva a serve later signalled the Bucs' final lead, however, as the Sharks went on a 7-0 run to take control and essentially close it out.
Boncheva had 10 kills and two blocks, and Trombley finished with 15 kills, 12 digs, two blocks, an assist and hit .273. Trinidad added 14 digs, and Jaco a match-high 26. Cielena and Didanovic combined for 12 kills and six blocks.
FRIDAY MATCH vs. TAMPA LIVE STREAM
FRIDAY MATCH vs. TAMPA LIVE STATS