FAU Volleyball Takes No. 22 Florida State to Five

FORT WORTH, Texas – (Sept. 6, 2019) – The Florida Atlantic University volleyball team stretched 22nd-ranked Florida State to the limit before losing in five sets (23-25, 25-11, 25-22, 27-29, 15-5) at the Fight for the Fort Tournament on Friday. The Owls lost to (RV) Colorado State in their first match of the day.

Match 1 vs. Colorado State

Key Plays

After the Rams built a 12-6 lead in the first set, the Owls (2-2) rallied to within two points on three separate occasions, but couldn’t get any closer, falling 25-16. Massiel Matos had four kills in the frame.  

Colorado State also got out to fast starts in sets two and three, and FAU was unable to recover, losing 25-14 and 25-10, respectively.

Notables

·         Jordan Yauch and Sigourney Kame had seven kills each. Yauch also had three block assists

·         Stephanie Young dished out 14 assists

·         Nikki Lakman had 11 assists

Match 2 vs. No. 22 Florida State

Key Plays

The match was a back-and-forth affair the entire afternoon. The first set was close, with neither side holding a lead larger than two until the Owls scored three straight points to go up 21-17.  FSU got to within a point three different times, but couldn’t pull even before a Sydney Nemtuda kill gave FAU the 25-23 win, marking the first time the Owls have ever taken a frame off of FSU.

The second set started nip-and-tuck. The score was tied at nine when the Seminoles pulled away, winning the set 25-11.

Set number three featured 15 ties, the final one coming at 17-17, when FSU scored three times in a row. The Owls narrowed the margin to one, but didn’t get any closer, falling 25-22.

FAU rallied from a 23-21 deficit late in the fourth set to earn a set point, but came up empty. The Owls had two more chances to force a fifth set, but couldn’t capitalize. The Seminoles had match point at 27-26, but kills by Matos and Nemtuda, followed by a FSU attack error gave FAU a 29-27 victory and sent the match to a decisive frame.

The Seminoles built an early 8-3 advantage, but back-to-back by Kame and Nemtuda prompted a FSU timeout. After the stoppage, FSU went on a 7-0 run to take the set and the match.

Notables

·         The match featured a grand total of 38 ties and 18 lead changes

·         Massiel Matos led FAU with 16 kills and added 11 digs for her 14th career double-double

·         Sydney Nemtuda tallied 11 kills and 13 digs for career double-double number six

·         Jordan Yauch and Sigourney Kame each posted 10 kills, giving the Owls four players in double-digits

·         Kori Varney had a team-high 16 digs

·         Stephanie Young had 23 assists, with Nikki Lakman following closely behind at 23

·         The defeat snapped FAU’s four-match winning streak in five-set matches. The last time the Owls dropped a fifth set was Oct. 6, 2017, when they were defeated by Rice

Quotable

Head Coach Fernanda Nelson

“I am very proud of our team. We had a tough first match (vs. Colorado State) and we were able to bounce back. We had many great moments, but have to focus on our consistency. Now, we will concentrate on TCU.” 

Upcoming

Saturday’s match against host TCU is scheduled for a 4 p.m. Eastern start and will air on Fox Sports Southwest and will stream through the Fox Sports Go app.

-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.