FAU Volleyball Drops Five-Setter to North Texas
BOCA RATON, Fla. – (Nov. 3, 2019)– In a match that lived up to the billing, the Florida Atlantic University volleyball team fell to North Texas in five sets (11-25, 25-19, 22-25, 15-9) on Sunday. The Owls are now 13-8 overall and 7-3 in Conference USA.
Key Plays
The Owls stormed out to a 17-2 lead in the first set as Sydney Nemtuda, Cailea Gibbs and Stephanie Young all had extended serving runs. The Mean Green (15-8, 9-2) enjoyed a long serving run of its own, but couldn’t get the margin to single digits. A Sigourney Kame kill ended the frame.
After falling behind early in set number two, three straight Nikki Lakman service aces tied things up at 13. North Texas regained the lead, but a Zuri Smith and Massiel Matos tandem block narrowed the edge to a point, 18-17. The Mean Green closed on a 7-1 run to tie the match at a set apiece.
The third set was back-and-forth most of the way, featuring 14 ties and eight lead changes. However, North Texas led 19-15 and seemed poised to take a two sets to one lead. A Kennedy Muckelroy kill kickstarted a rally that included kills by six different FAU players and catapulted the Owls to a 25-21 come-from-behind victory.
The Owls trailed 24-18 in the fourth set and were able fight off four Mean Green set points before North Texas took the frame to force a fifth set.
North Texas led the decisive set 6-2 when Jordan Yauch was able to serve the Owls back to within a point. FAU couldn’t get any closer and the Mean Green took the set and the match 15-9.
Notables
- Massiel Matos collected 17 kills and 15 digs for her sixth double-double of the season and 19th of her career
- Cailea Gibbs posted 10 kills, five total blocks and two service aces
- Nikki Lakman dished out 36 assists and had four service aces.
- Jordan Yauch had eight kills, three total blocks and a service ace
- Sydney Nemtuda tallied nine kills and 19 digs on the day
- Kori Varney notched 21 digs, her second 20+ dig match of the year
- FAU is 1-4 in five set matches this season
What’s Next
The Owls travel to Rice on Friday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. Eastern. Live stats and video will be available at fausports.com. In-game updates will be available at twitter.com/FAUVolleyball.
– FAUSports.com –
Florida Atlantic University Athletics:
FAU Athletics is comprised of 21 intercollegiate teams involving 450 student-athletes that compete in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track, volleyball, beach volleyball, cheer and dance. The Owls are a NCAA Division I-A (FBS) institution and compete in Conference USA and the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) (beach volleyball, men’s swimming). The Owls have been playing football since 2001 and are a perfect 3-0 in bowl games, the most recent being a 50-3 victory over Akron in the 2017 Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl. The dance team finished its 2014 season No. 8, nationally. FAU cheer won a national championship in 2016.
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six county service region in southeast Florida. FAU’s world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU’s existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.
