HOUSTON, TEXAS – (Nov. 23, 2019)– The Florida Atlantic University volleyball team lost to No. 19 WKU in straight sets (25-20, 25-20, 25-18) in the Conference USA Tournament semifinals on Saturday. The Owls finish the season with a 16-11 record.
Key Plays
The first set was tied 5-5 when WKU (30-1) went on a 6-1 rally to take an 11-5 advantage. The lead stretched to as many as eight before the Owls scored four straight points to cut the margin in half. However, a Hilltopper kill ended the first set 25-20 for WKU.
Strong serving helped WKU take a 5-1 lead in set number two. FAU steadily narrowed the deficit, pulling to within a point on three separate occasions, but the Hilltoppers closed on a 7-3 spurt to take the set 25-20 and go up two sets to none.
The third set fell into a pattern of the Hilltoppers building a small lead, followed by the Owls coming back to pull close. Zuri Smith put down a kill, then Jordan Yauch and Cailea Gibbs teamed up on a block to trim WKU’s cushion to 17-15. The Hilltoppers had a strong finish, and ultimately won the set 25-18 to complete the sweep.
Notables
- Massiel Matos led the Owls with 12 kills
- Zuri Smith had eight kills and two block assists
- Sydney Nemtuda posted seven kills and tied her career-high with four service aces
- Sigourney Kame finished her FAU career third in program history in kills (1,171)
- Cailea Gibbs (.284), Jordan Yauch (.278) and Sigourney Kame (.276) are sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, on the school’s all-time career hitting percentage list
- Of the top-10 players on the FAU career hitting percentage list, Fernanda Nelson has coached five (Abbi Reid, Brittney Brown)
- Six consecutive winning seasons is a school record for the Owls
What’s Next
The Owls are expected to return seven players for the 2020 season
– 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.
