Volleyball Takes Five-Set Thriller from Charlotte

Saturday, November 16

Charlotte, N. C.

1 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

-1510, 95 (CUSA)

Charlotte

-1615, 59 (CUSA)

Florida Atlantic

Charlotte

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

11/16/2019 7:55:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A dramatic rally propelled the Florida Atlantic University volleyball team to a five-set win (25-20, 25-27, 25-21, 25-18, 15-13) over Charlotte on Saturday. The Owls finish the regular season 15-10 and 9-5 in Conference USA.

Key Plays
The first set went back and forth, featuring 11 ties. The final one came at 17-17 after a Cailea Gibbs kill. That began a 9-3 FAU run, capped off by a pair of Massiel Matos kills, that clinched a 25-20 Owls victory.

Charlotte took a 9-5 lead early in set number two before FAU rallied to take a 16-14 advantage. The 49ers fought back to even the score at 18. There were five more ties in the frame before a Matos kill put the Owls a point away from a two sets to none lead. However, Charlotte won the next three points to take the set and even the match.

FAU fell behind early in set three, but took a 10-9 lead off of two Sydney Nemtuda kills. The 49ers answered with an 8-2 run and kept control the rest of the way to go up two sets to one.

Nikki Lakman served FAU out to a 4-0 lead in the fourth set. Charlotte narrowed the lead to two at 9-7, but four different Owls contributed kills during a 9-3 spurt that seized control of the action. FAU eventually won the set 25-18.

The fifth set was even at five, when Charlotte reeled off five unanswered points to take a 10-5 lead. From there, the Owls responded with a massive rally, beginning with a Zuri Smith kill and including three kills and a block assist from Kennedy Muckleroy, that lifted them to an incredible come from behind 15-13 win to take the match

Notables

Massiel Matos had her first ever 20-20 double-double, collecting a season high 22 kills and career-high 24 digs
Sydney Nemtuda just missed a 20-20 double-double of her own, with 19 kills and a career best 22 digs
Nikki Lakman also notched a double-double, setting career highs in both assists (75) and digs (19)
Zuri Smith's 13 kills were her most in an FAU uniform and she added five block assists
Cailea Gibbs posted 13 kills and a solo block
FAU had lost five five-set matches in a row prior to Saturday's match.

What's Next
FAU will head to the Conference USA Tournament as the No. 5 seed and will play fourth-seeded Marshall at 3 p.m. Eastern on Friday, Nov. 22. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.