HOUSTON, TEXAS – (Nov. 22, 2019)– The Florida Atlantic University volleyball team recorded its first conference tournament win since 2005 in impressive fashion, sweeping Marshall (25-15, 25-23, 25-17) in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Tournament on Friday. The Owls improve to 16-10 with the victory.
Key Plays
Kori Varney’s serving propelled FAU to a 7-0 run, allowing the Owls to take a 9-2 lead early in set number one. Marshall never got closer than five points and FAU cruised to a 25-15 victory. Massiel Matos had seven kills in the frame.
The Owls found themselves behind 6-2 early in the second set, but rallied to tie the score at 9-9. Marshall answered with an 8-3 spurt to go up 17-12. Kills by Cailea Gibbs, Sydney Nemtuda and a pair by Matos pulled FAU to within one. The Owls eventually tied the score at 18-18. There were three more ties in the set, the final one coming at 22-22 when Zuri Smith had a kill to give FAU the lead. The next play was initially ruled to end in a Marshall point, but after an official challenge from the Owls, Smith was credited with her second kill in a row, giving FAU set point. Matos put down her 13th kill of the match to close the door on set two and put the Owls up two sets to none with a 25-23 win.
The third set was tight in the early going, with neither squad able to create significant separation. An 8-3 FAU run gave the Owls a modest 12-9 advantage. Marshall responded with three straight points to tie the score. A Smith kill began what ended up as a 13-5 Owls’ scoring spurt to close the match. FAU had six different players score during the decisive run.
Notables
- Massiel Matos had a match-high 16 kills and added nine digs, coming up just short of a double-double
- Sydney Nemtuda posted 12 kills and 16 digs for her fourth consecutive double-double
- Zuri Smith’s tallied 11 kills on 14 swings without an error for a .786 hitting percentage, and chipped in four blocks
- Cailea Gibbs registered six kills to go along with five total blocks
- FAU got it done offensively and defensively, outhitting Marshall .336 to .163 and outdigging the Herd 58-38.
- Prior to Friday’s match, the Owls’ last conference tournament win came on Nov. 19, 2005, when they defeated Belmont in the finals of the Atlantic Sun tournament
Quotable
FAU Head Coach Fernanda Nelson
“Super proud of the kids today. Just two weeks ago, we played Marshall and lost in five. We went back to work, going through some adversity that I’m sure a lot of schools go through, but super proud of how they played today.”
What’s Next
FAU moves on to face top-seeded WKU at 1 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. The match will be streamed on ESPN+. Live stats will be available at fausports.com and updates will be available at 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.
