Owls earn first C-USA sweep over LA Tech

Friday, October 21

Ruston, La.

7 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

-137,35 CUSA

Louisiana Tech

-914,26 CUSA

Fla. Atlantic

Louisiana Tech

Photo by: JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

10/21/2022 10:01:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

RUSTON, La. – The Florida Atlantic University volleyball team (13-7, 3-5 C-USA) picked up its first C-USA sweep of the season as the Owls picked up a huge 3-0 road win over the LA Tech Lady Techsters (9-14, 2-6 C-USA) on Friday evening at Thomas Assembly Center.

"I am very proud of our girls today," expressed head coach Fernanda Nelson. "We had a lot of players come in and make a difference tonight! Nono did a great job running our offense and our middle blockers were very successful. We are going to enjoy the W, but we have to get ready for a tough game on Sunday. This is a big weekend for us, and I love how focused we are."

Katelynn Robine got things started, knocking down her first kill of the match to put the Owls on top first, 1-0. The Lady Techsters responded on a 10-5 run to take a four-point lead, 10-6. The Owls closed the LA Tech lead down to one after a Lady Techsters error at 13-12, but LA Tech rallied to outscore FAU 11-7 and hold set point at 24-19. However, FAU played lock-down defense to close out the set as they closed the frame on an impressive 8-1 run to take the 27-25 win and the 1-0 advantage.

The Owls carried the momentum into the second as FAU opened the frame on an 8-2 run, capped off by a Rosado kill and a pair of Lady Techsters' errors to spark a LA Tech timeout. Aniya Harvey delivered her first ace of the contest to cap off a 3-0 Owls run and give FAU a 15-8 lead. LA Tech tried to rally through the rest of the set, but the Owls maintained a five-point lead to take the second set 25-20 off Rosado's 10^th kill of the match and hold a 2-0 lead after two.

The third set was déjà vu, as the Owls produced another dominant 8-2 run to open the third after Rosado's 12^th kill of the contest to spark LA Tech's first timeout of the set. Out of the timeout the Owls scored another to extend their lead to seven, 9-2, before a 16-9 Lady Techsters' run brought the set even at 18 apiece. However, LA Tech just couldn't find an answer to the Owls as FAU produced a 7-2 run to close out the third, 25-20, and secure the 3-0 sweep.

Stat Leaders

Kills: Valeria Rosado - 13
Assists: Noelle Stephens - 38
Digs: Camryn Vogler/Klara Zarnovicka - 12
Blocks: Klara Zarnovicka/Valeria Rosado - 1
Aces: Noelle Stephens/Valeria Rosado - 2

Set-by-Set

Set 1: FAU 27, LA Tech 25
Set 2: FAU 25, LA Tech 20
Set 3: FAU 25, LA Tech 20

Match Notes

Valeria Rosado led all scorers with a match-high 13 kills
Klara Zarnovicka posted a season-best and tied for a team-high 12 digs
FAU led LA Tech in points (53-40), kills (44-29), aces (7-4), assists (42-29), and digs (54-49)

Up Next

FAU remains on the road as they head to Birmingham, Alabama to face off against the UAB Blazers on Sunday, October 23 for the second time in 2022. First serve is set for 2 p.m. ET inside Bartow Arena.

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