GREENVILLE, N.C. – A career day for Arianna Beckham and a season-best performance from Valeria Rosado powered the Florida Atlantic Owls (10-8, 2-3 AAC) to a four-set victory over the ECU Pirates (12-4, 3-2 AAC) to split their season series on Saturday at Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
FLORIDA ATLANTIC 3 – ECU 1
After dropping a hard-fought and tightly contested three-setter on Friday, the Florida Atlantic Owls bounced back in a big way on Saturday, earning an impressive four-set victory over the previously American Athletic Conference East-leading ECU Pirates.
Arianna Beckham led all scorers with a career-best 22 kill performance and hitting for an impressive .613. Valeria Rosado also had a stellar performance, posting a season-best 21 kills and leading the Owls back row with a season-best 17 digs for her second double-double of the year. Victoria Hensley powered the Owls’ offense with a season-best 44 assists and Kaila Ru tallied a team-best two blocks in the win.
After five ties to open the match, the Owls produced a 7-3 run to take a 12-8 lead after back-to-back kills from Arianna Beckham and spark an ECU timeout. The Pirates closed back within two at 14-12, however the Owls went on another run, outscoring ECU 4-1, to hold a five-point advantage at 18-13 as the Pirates called their second timeout of the contest. Romina Cornelio delivered her second service aces of the day to push the Owls’ lead to 21-14. Florida Atlantic tacked on the final four points of the contest to take the 25-19 win and the early 1-0 lead.
The Pirates opened the second strong, outscoring the Owls 14-6 to open the second and spark a Florida Atlantic timeout. The two squads both recorded 11 points over the remainder of the set as ECU would even up the match at one apiece after a 25-17 win in set two.
Florida Atlantic bounced back in the third, quickly outscoring the Pirates 9-4 to open the set and spark an ECU timeout. Out of the timeout, the Pirates mounted a 9-6 run to cut the Owls’ lead to just two at 15-13, however Florida Atlantic locked in to answer back with a 9-3 run to quickly hold the set point at 24-16. The Pirates scored three-straight, however it wasn’t enough as Kaila Ru’s kill closed out the set to give the Owls the 25-19 win and a 2-1 lead.
The Owls and Pirates battled through 10 ties through a 14-14 stalemate halfway through the fourth set. ECU then went on a 3-0 run to take a 17-14 lead and spark the Owls to call their first timeout of the set. Out of the timeout, Florida Atlantic produced a 3-1 run to cut the Pirate lead to just one at 18-17, making ECU call their first timeout of the fourth. The Owls maintained the momentum out of the timeout, outscoring the Pirates 5-2 to take a 22-20 advantage and spark another ECU timeout. The Pirates went on a 3-1 run to even the set at 23 all, however kills from Lauryn Green, Cornelio, and Beckham powered the Owls’ 3-1 run to close out the match as Florida Atlantic won the fourth 26-24 for the four-set victory, 3-1.
UP NEXT
Florida Atlantic will return to Paradise next weekend as they prepare to host the Tulsa Hurricanes for a Friday night matchup at 6 p.m. inside Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena.
FOLLOW THE OWLS
For updates, follow @FAUVolleyball on Twitter and Instagram, or like FAU Volleyball on Facebook.
