Owls Open C-USA Season with Win Over ODU

Friday, September 24

Boca Raton, Fla.

1 PM

Florida Atlantic

-95,10 CUSA

Old Dominion

-76,01 CUSA

Old Dominion

Fla. Atlantic

Photo by: ©JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

9/24/2021 2:45:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University volleyball team (9-5) opened their Conference USA season with a straight-set win on Friday over Old Dominion (7-6). The victory snapped a three-match winning streak for the Monarchs while also bringing a three-match skid for the Owls to a close.

Transfer outside hitter Christine Jarman was brilliant on both sides of the ball, leading all players with 12 kills and adding three blocks and three digs while hitting .360.

How It Was Decided

Set 1
The Owls entered the match needing to make a statement and did exactly that as they launched out to an early 10-2 lead behind a pair of ferocious strikes by Jarman and the calm, collected defense of Lauryn Green. "Lolo" finished her night with five blocks as she and teammate Alicia Hearn turned away seven attacks combined. A response run by the Monarchs closed the gap to two at 18-16, but Jarman and Green kept the Owls in front before Aniya Harvey's smash over the middle bought set one to a close, 25-19.

Set2
The second set also saw the Owls take a big lead, this time through a bit of good luck and another pair of kills by Jarman. Setters MiaBella English and Stephanie Young were silky smooth on their 32 combined assists, allowing their frontline teammates to fire punishing strikes deep into the ODU backcourt. After what had been a slower start than usual, Klara Zarnovicka found her stride in the middle of set two and turned it on, using her great power to overwhelm ODU defenders. With the second set never really in doubt, FAU closed on a 6-2 run to take it 25-16 and went up two sets to zero.

Set 3
In the third set, ODU was able to collect themselves and played much better defense, enabling them to keep things close for most of the period. After FAU took an 11-6 lead on the back of a pair of aces by Young, the Monarchs came charging back to tie things up at 13-13. ODU would work a small lead at 19-18 before the extensive experience of coach Fernanda Nelson shone through. FAU came out of a timeout to take the lead back again. The drama continued to build with each team having an opportunity at set-point until they played to deuce at 25-all. From there, a game-changing block by Hearn followed by Camryn Vogler sealing the deal with an ace on next the play, took the third set for the Owls, 27-25.

Of Note

Green finished with a hitting percentage above .400 for the seventh match this season
Zarnovicka extended her double-digit kill streak to five matches
Harvey finished her eighth match this season with at least two blocks
This was the first ever win for the Owls against ODU, who is in their second season as a volleyball program

Up Next

These two teams will run it back for a rematch tomorrow at 1 p.m. at FAU arena.

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