Owls Outlast (RV) TCU

Saturday, September 7

Fort Worth, Texas

4 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

3-2

TCU

3-2

FAU

TCU

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

9/8/2019 1:27:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

FORT WORTH, Texas - Playing in its second five sets match in as many days, the Florida Atlantic University volleyball team held off a frantic comeback attempt to defeat TCU (25-23, 31-29, 18-25, 22-25, 15-10) The Owls improved to 3-2 on the season.

Key Plays

Strong serving, along with back-to-back kills by Cailea Gibbs put the Owls up 8-3 early in the first frame. Later on in the set, TCU scored four straight points to tie the score at 18-18, and eventually held a 23-22 lead. However, Massiel Matos and Zuri Smith teamed up on a block, followed by Smith and Sigourney Kame kills to give FAU the set one win.

It was the Horned Frogs' turn to have an early lead in the second set, but three straight Matos' aces knotted the score at 10. There were 16 more ties in the set, with neither side holding larger than a three-point cushion. TCU had four chances to tie the match at one set each, but couldn't come up with the finishing play. Trailing 29-28, Matos and Gibbs sandwiched kills around a tandem block to complete another late rally for the Owls and put FAU a set away from victory.

TCU lead set three wire-to-wire, taking the frame 25-18 and cutting the Owls' lead in half.

It was a similar story in the fourth set, as the Horned Frogs used a 7-1 spurt to go up 10-4 early on and maintained at least a two-point margin for the rest of the way, forcing a decisive fifth set.

Matos and Sydney Nemtuda teamed up to lead the Owls to victory in the final frame, combining for 10 kills and teaming up on a block to help FAU to a 15-10 triumph.

Notables

· Matos led all players with 17 kills and added four total blocks and three service aces

· Nemtuda tallied 15 kills and 15 digs for her second straight double-double and third of the season

· Stephanie Young posted her first career double-double with 24 assists and 13 digs

· Kori Varney registered a match-high 19 digs

· Zuri Smith had a career-high eight total blocks

· As a team, the Owls outdug TCU 61-52. FAU is 3-0 so far this season when recording more digs than their opponent

Quotable

Head Coach Fernanda Nelson

"This was a great win for us, beating TCU on their home court is no small feat. We loved how aggressive the team played. We definitely saw improvement this weekend."

On the team's defense…

"Our defense made the difference today. We had some huge blocks during key parts of the game. Our defense has been incredible in practice and today, we did it in a game."

What's Next

FAU returns home to the Owls Classic on Sept. 13 and 14. Tickets are $10 per day or $20 for the weekend. Live stats will be available at fausports.com and live updates will be posted to the team's official Twitter account, @FAUVolleyball.