Owls Hold Off Charlotte in Five Sets

Sunday, October 21

Boca Raton, Fla.

12:00 p.m. ET

Florida Atlantic

-175, 72 CUSA

Charlotte

-1312, 36 CUSA

Charlotte

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

10/21/2018 3:45:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – For the second time this season, the Florida Atlantic University volleyball team needed five sets to defeat Charlotte (25-20, 25-23, 13-25, 25-27, 15-8). With the win, the Owls extended their home winning streak to 11.

Key Plays
The first set went back-and-forth early, as neither team was able to maintain control of the action. At the midway point, FAU (17-5, 7-2 Conference USA) went on a 13-6 spurt to take a 23-15 lead, ultimately winning the set 25-20.

The Owls kept the momentum going at the start of set number two, taking an early 8-3 advantage. Charlotte (13-12, 3-6) fought back to eventually tie the score 11-11. There were six more ties in the frame, the last one coming at 20, when Alex Cardona's serving put FAU ahead 23-20. The 49ers rallied to within one, 24-23, but an Abbi Reid kill ended the set.

After the intermission, Charlotte used some strong serving of its own to take an 11-6 lead in the third set. FAU trimmed the edge down to two, but Charlotte won the next 10 points and forced a fourth set with a 25-13 win.

Set number four mirrored the first, with both sides fighting to keep a firm hold on the lead. The Owls had match point at 25-24, but the 49ers responded with three straight points to send the match to a decisive fifth set.

Charlotte took the first three points of the fifth set, but FAU won the next three to level the score. An exchange of points led to a 5-5 tie, at which point the Owls asserted themselves with a 10-3 run to close the match, capped off by a Sydney Nemtuda kill.

Notables

Massiel Matos had her 10^th double-double of the year with career highs in both kills (23) and digs (18).
Ivone Martinez collected career double-double number 31 with 57 assists and 14 digs.
Jordan Yauch tallied 19 kills for the second match in a row.
Abbi Reid registered 11 kills and four total blocks.
Sydney Nemtuda contributed nine kills, 17 digs, three total blocks and a service ace.
Alex Cardona and notched 17 digs and six assists.