WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.- The Palm Beach Atlantic University volleyball team opened their home season in style on Wednesday evening at the Rubin Arena as they clobbered their marine-animal neighbors from the south in Nova Southeastern University. The Sharks would prove no match for the young Sailfish who connected for a solid .345 team hitting percentage while limiting NSU to only an .023 mark.

The victory for PBA pushes their season record to 8-2 while also giving them their third straight victory over Nova Southeastern (1-8) dating back to last season.

Backed by a solid crowd all night, the Fish came out firing on all cylinders with a .333 mark in the opening set for a 25-15 win. Things wouldn’t get any easier for NSU moving forward as PBA followed their solid hitting in the first set with an even more robust .500 hitting percentage as the Fish earned a 25-18 set two victory. They closed out the sweep with a 25-15 win in game three over the Sharks.

Senior Mariela Quesada and junior Christina Alessi provided much of the offensive firepower for the Sailfish with each racking up 10 kills on the night. Alessi did so on just 13 attacks for a ridiculous .692 attacking mark for the match. Quesada also registered eight digs to aid the all-around attack.

Freshmen Rachel Jones and Faith Rohn also continued their solid work with eight and seven kills respectively while sophomore setter Becca Acevedo even chipped in to the attack with five kills of her own.

Acevedo proved superb from the setter position all night with 33 assists while sophomore libero Melissa Buckingham paced the defensive effort with a match-high 12 digs. Rachael Holehouse added in eight digs while Rohn managed seven.

Freshman Stephany Brown provided three blocks, all in the third set of action to lead all blockers.

NSU finished the night with a negative hitting percentage in the first and third sets while hitting .023 as a team for the match. Freshman Dana Holger proved the most dangerous as an offensive player as she registered eight kills in the loss. Libero Sarah Shifflett had 12 digs as well.

The Fish will now prepare for another busy weekend when they will take part in a tournament at Carson Newman College. The team opens up with two matches on Friday, September 14th followed by two more on Saturday, September 15th.