Owls Unable to Climb Past Tops

Saturday, October 23

Boca Raton, Fla.

1 PM

Florida Atlantic

-1013,28 CUSA

WKU

-201,80 CUSA

Western Ky.

Fla. Atlantic

Photo by: ©JC Ridley/Florida Atlantic

10/23/2021 12:51:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University volleyball team (10-13 2-8 in Conference USA) fell 3-1 to the #19 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (20-1, 8-0 in C-USA) on Saturday after a tightly contested match at FAU arena.

Transfer outside hitter Christine Jarman was splendid once again, leading the Owls attack for the fourth straight match. The Boynton Beach native finished with 17 kills and 7 digs as she added another night hitting above .300 to her storied season.

Though the Owls would fall against their old rivals, FAU won their first set against the Hilltoppers since Oct. 2019, while also halting nation's longest streak of sweeps (WKU) at 12 matches. The atmosphere was electric at the Burrow as the Owls gave the Tops all the could handle over the course of four sets.

How It Was Decided

Set 1
FAU came out firing right from the very first serve as Jarman ignited for three consecutive kills to an early 3-1 advantage. After a response run gave the Hilltoppers a 12-6 lead, FAU took both of their timeouts in a effort to slow Western Kentucky's momentum. Two kills by Robine kept the set in play, but the Hilltoppers were too much for the Owls in the opening period, which they won minutes later, 25-10.

Set 2
As set two began and the Hilltoppers jumped out to a 3-1 lead, it would have been all but too easy for the Owls to mail it in against a team they have never defeated. But quitting is a not a play that FAU runs, and this was to be a special set featuring a complete team effort. Jarman got things going with a pair of kills to tie it back up at 3-3, and from there, the Owls would go on to play their most inspired set of the entire season. Middle blocker Lauryn Green smashed two straight kills over the middle before Jarman did the same from the outside and the relentless FAU offense began to send Hilltopper defenders sprawling as they were forced to cover nearly the entire width of the court. As the teams found themselves tied at 10, FAU began to ramp up their own defense and was able to frustrate the nation's leading attacker in hitting percentage, Lauren Matthews, into some highly uncharacteristic errors. Back and forth the teams would go all the way until another tie at 20-20 put the Owls just five points from ending Western Kentucky's streak of matches swept in a row. Here, it was Katelynn Robine's turn to come up huge as her 3 kills and an ace in the waning moments of the set put the Owls in position before Sonte Stewart fired a laser beam to close out the set 25-23, snapping WKU's streak of 12 matches swept in a row.

Set 3
If the second set had given the Owls reason to believe they could play with the 19th- ranked team in the coutnry, the third set solidified that notion in stone. Holes that had appeared in the Owls' defense earlier in the match had been closed, shutting down the scoring lanes for Matthews and her cohorts. The Tops opened up a 9-5 lead midway through the set but a galvanized FAU squad was not about to let the match get away from them. Attacks were pure and powerful as Stephanie Young and Noelle Stephens fed a hungry FAU frontline fed with lobs. Even the Owls' decision making looked as good as it has all season while the FAU worked their way to a 15-15 tie. As the teams traded jabs, NoNo Stephen's second successful decoy attack gave the Owls' a slim 18-17 lead late in the set. But WKU was finally able to find their footing, and snagged eight of the last ten points, winning the set 25-20.

Set 4
The Owls had not played a four-set match in over a month, but came out strong to start what would be the final period of the day. WKU too found themselves in unfamiliar territory as the Owls forced them to play their best team volleyball on a day they weren't able to get the kinds of shots they were used to dominating with. Sonte Stewart had her best defensive set as an Owl, packing away a pair of Hilltopper attacks en route to a season high three blocks in the match. Following an 8-8 tie teams played to an 20-16 Hilltoppers advantage with Halle Olson doing the dirty work for FAU on her way to three kills in the set. Western Kentucky would eventually win the set and the day, but not before the Owls had had their say, and played the best team in the conference down to the very last serve.

Of Note