TRUMAN STATE UNIVERSITY ADVANCES TO NCAA DIVISION II VOLLEYBALL NATIONAL SEMIFINALS

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Truman State University (33-7), ranked #8 in the NCAA Division II, took a 3-0 win over Nova Southeastern (24-12) to advance to the 2008 NCAA Division II Championship semifinals (25-21, 25-20, 25-20).  The Bulldogs are matched up with Cal State San Bernardino with a start time of 5:00 pm (CT) on Friday evening at the Gangelhoff Center. Truman State had to overcome a number of Nova Southeastern runs in the quarterfinal match.  The Sharks started things off with five straight points before Truman ripped off a 17-3 run for a sizeable 17-8 lead.   But NSU did not fold easily and came back with ten of the next 12 points to set the score at 19-18.  Truman finished off the first set with a 25-21 win and dictated the tone of the remainder of the match. Both teams improved their hitting in the second set, but Truman took the edge after committing a few less errors in the front row and also putting up three ace serves.  They finished the match with a .138 hitting average, while NSU swung for a mere .045.  TSU had 60 digs to NSU's 51 and also edged out the Sharks with nine team blocks to eight. Nova Southeastern's Melinda Gorman, a senior outside hitter, was the only player in the match to tally double figures in kills with 13.  She also had seven digs and three block assists.  Emily Carle and Valia Petrova had the next highest hitting marks with four kills each.  Sophomore Kathleen Yony led the team with 16 digs.  Molly Sigerich boosted the Shark blocking game with five assists.  Valia Petrova assisted on 25 of the team's 32 kills. Senior outside hitter Eli Medina had a team high eight kills for the Bulldogs.  She was also the team dig leader with 16 saves.  Lisa Weber came in with seven kills, five block assists and five digs.  Whitney Boehler had 13 digs, followed by Dana Hanselmann with ten.  The setting game was split between Kylie Easlon and Ashley Petak with 17 and 13 assists each, respectively. For complete match notes please click here.