HOUSTON, TEXAS – (Nov. 8, 2019)– The Florida Atlantic University suffered its second setback in a row, losing to No. 17 Rice in straight sets (25-23, 25-19, 25-13) on Friday night. FAU Owls fell to 13-9 overall and 7-4 in Conference USA.
Key Plays
With the score tied at 3 early in the first set, FAU went on a 10-4 run that included two Cailea Gibbs kills, two Zuri Smith blocks (one solo, one a tandem block with Sydney Nemtuda) and a Jordan Yauch service ace to go up 13-7. Rice (22-1, 11-0) fought back to level the sides at 14. There were five more ties before a modest scoring spurt gave FAU a 22-20 lead late. Rice answered by taking five of the next six points to come back and win the frame 25-23.
Set number two also featured FAU taking a decent early lead, 12-8. The Texas version of the Owls once again rallied and pulled ahead 17-14. Gibbs teamed up with Kennedy Muckelroy and Massiel Matos on back-to-back blocks to trim the deficit to one, but Rice won the next five points, and eventually took the set 25-19.
In the third set, Rice seized control with an early 7-2 run and won going away to complete the sweep.
Notables
- Zuri Smith continued her strong defensive play as of late, putting down seven total blocks to go along with six kills
- Smith is three solo blocks away from reaching 10th place on the FAU single-season list
- Cailea Gibbs, Massiel Matos and Sydney Nemtuda each had five kills
- Matos and Kori Varney had nine digs each for FAU
What’s Next
FAU wraps up its home schedule against Marshall at noon on Sunday. Sunday will be Senior Day and the Owls will recognize their seven seniors before the match. 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.
