Volleyball Drops Two Tough Matches at the Sunshine State Challenge

Friday, August 24

Coral Gables, Fla.

10:00 a.m. ET

Florida Atlantic

0-1

Florida Gulf Coast

1-0

Florida Atlantic

FGCU

Photo by: ©JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

Volleyball Drops Two Tough Matches at the Sunshine State Challenge

8/24/2018 9:46:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University volleyball team lost a pair of highly competitive matches at the Sunshine State Challenge on Friday. The Owls fell to Florida Gulf Coast 3-0 (25-20, 26-24, 26-24) and were nipped by tournament host Miami in four sets (25-20, 25-20, 22-25, 31-29).

Match 1 vs. Florida Gulf Coast
Key Plays
The Owls and Eagles went back and forth until the late stages of the first set when FGCU scored four straight points to win 25-20 and go up 1-0. Set two and three followed similar patterns, with the Eagles able to earn narrow victories in both frames and complete the sweep.
Notables

Cailea Gibbs had a career high 11 kills in the match.
Ivone Martinez just missed a double-double with 42 assists and nine digs.
Alex Cardona tallied 13 digs, leading all players in that category.

Match 2 vs. Miami
Key Plays
FAU's second match of the day mirrored its first as neither side managed a lead larger than three points early in the first set. The Hurricanes built a four-point cushion at the midway point and eventually won 25-20. The second frame went along the same lines, this time with UM closing on a 7-3 run to take the frame and go up two sets to none. FAU trailed 22-18 and was on the verge of being swept for the second time on the day, but scored seven straight points to earn the 25-22 victory and force a fourth set. That fourth set featured 10 ties and 20 lead changes. The Owls staved off two Hurricane match points, but were unable to fend off a third, falling 31-29 to end the match.
Notables

Massiel Matos tied for the match-high with 19 kills.
Sigourney Kame added 18 kills.
Ivone Martinez notched her 25^th career double-double with 56 assists and 15 digs.
Alex Cardona also had 15 digs, tying with Martinez for most in the match.

Upcoming
The Owls face UCF at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Live stats will be available at fausports.com.