BOCA RATON, Fla. – (Sept. 14, 2019) – The Florida Atlantic University volleyball extended its home winning streak to an even 20 with a sweep (25-18, 25-23, 25-9) on Saturday. With the win, FAU also took home the Owls’ Classic championship and improved to 6-2 on the season.
Key Plays
Despite an impressive serving run by Camryn Vogler, the Owls were unable to shake the Wildcats (2-6) and led by only a point, 8-7, early in set number one. A 5-1 scoring spurt stretched the margin to 13-8. The Owls maintained a comfortable lead the rest of the way and a Cailea Gibbs kill ended the frame.
In set number two, Sydney Riggs’ serving helped FAU take an 8-3 advantage. The gap grew as large as eight, when BCU began to steadily eat away at the deficit, eventually taking a two-point lead, 22-20. As they had all weekend, the Owls made a late push to take the set, this time on the strength of three kills and two Wildcat errors.
FAU took command early in the third set, going up 6-0 behind the strong serving of Nikki Lakman, and never relinquished control, clinching the sweep in impressive fashion, taking the final stanza 25-9.
Notables
· Zuri Smith and Kennedy Muckelroy each had a match-high 10 kills for the Owls, the most either player has recorded in an FAU uniform. Smith did not commit an error in 11 swings
· Sydney Nemtuda and Sydney Riggs each tallied nine kills. Nemtuda adding 10 digs, while Riggs posted five digs and a service ace
· Camryn Vogler notched her first two kills as an Owl
· Kori Varney led all players with 11 digs
· Tournament MVP Jordan Yauch had seven kills on the match. She was joined on the all-tournament team by Cailea Gibbs and Massiel Matos
· The 20-match home winning streak in the fourth longest active streak in the nation
Quotable
Senior Cailea Gibbs
“We’ve kind of got this chip on our shoulder that the Burrow is our house and no one is going to come in here (and win).”
What’s Next
FAU wraps up its tournament schedule with next weekend’s Sunshine State Challenge in Orlando. Live stats will be available at fausports.com and live updates will be posted to the team’s official Twitter account, @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.
