Volleyball Takes No. 22 Florida State to Five

Friday, September 6

Fort Worth, Texas

11 a.m.

Florida Atlantic

2-1

Colorado State

3-1

FAU

Colorado State

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

9/6/2019 7:53:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

FORT WORTH, Texas - The Florida Atlantic University volleyball team stretched 22^nd-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 14^th 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.