Fort Lauderdale, Fla.- In what has become a pattern of their 2007 season, the Palm Beach Atlantic University volleyball team fell behind early on Tuesday night only to see them storm back into contention before falling in the fifth game and be defeated in the match.

After being soundly defeated 30-24 and 30-26 in their first two games of Tuesday night’s action versus Nova Southeastern University, the Sailfish, led by first-year head coach Nicole Carter, put themselves back into the thick of things with 30-28 and 30-21 victories in games three and four respectively. In the end, PBA couldn’t muster a complete turnaround as the Sharks won game five by a score of 15-8 and survived the match.

Evening up their season-series with the Fish after dropping a 1-3 match back on September 4th in West Palm Beach, Nova Southeastern improves to 17-6 on the season while the Sailfish drop once again to .500 at 12-12.

Leading the Sailfish were four attackers with double-digit kills including a team-high 15 kills by senior leader Bia Santos. A native of Sao Paulo, Brazil and a second-year player for PBA after an original stint at Palm Beach Community College, Santos also collected 14 digs and assisted on five blocks.

Other top-hitters for PBA included junior Brittany Erickson (La Mesa, Calif.) and senior Ali Mitchell (West Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm HS) who tallied 14 and 13 kills respectively. Freshman outside-hitter Kristin Carroll posted a solid night as well as she totaled 10 kills with only two attacking errors.

Sophomore Jennifer Eldridge (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla./Dwyer HS) continued her solid work from the back-row as added to her team-leading dig totals with 19 more digs against NSU. Junior setter Emily Ryerson registered an even 40 set assists in the loss while assisting on six blocks.

Melinda Gorman and Emily Carle, both heavy-hitting Shark’s attackers, led the efforts of NSU with 20 and 19 kills respectively.

PBA will now turn their attention to their next contest which will feature a home match with nearby Lynn University on Tuesday, October 16th. The match is slated to begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Rubin Arena.