Volleyball: Owls sweep Marshall 3-0 for their fourth straight victory
Ivone Martinez’s team leading eighth double-double helps lead team to win.
Junior rightside hitter Abbi Reid (10) spikes the ball past the North Texas’s defense and obtains a point for FAU during their Oct. 15 game versus North Texas. Lauren Sopourn | Contributing Writer
October 29, 2017
Florida Atlantic women’s volleyball picked up its fourth straight victory in a (25-15, 25-20, 25-23) sweep over the visiting Marshall Thundering Herd Sunday. The team has now won five of its last six games with the win.
A scoreboard error near the end of the first set inadvertently gave FAU the win when it was only 24-14. It was discovered after the teams had already changed sides of the court. They were only prolonging the inevitable. The closest Marsha;l had been in the set was a 1-1 tie at the beginning of the match.
Early on in the second set, both teams were trading points at an even rate. This led to six ties within the set and gave Marshall a chance to secure a set.
This ended after a kill from Senior opposite hitter Gabrielle Dixon put them ahead for good 12-11. The Owls would hold on from that point, eventually winning that set 25-20.
FAU trailed 10-8 in the third set, before they changed their fortunes and went on a 11- 4 run. This put them up 19-14 for what seemed to be another easy win.
The Thundering Herd went on a run of their own, making the game as close as 24-23. The game ended on a service error by Marshall, giving FAU the set 25-23 and the sweep.
Junior libero Alex Cardona led the team with 14 digs. Junior setter Ivone Martinez had 43 assists and 11 digs, which gives her a team best eight double-doubles on the season.
Freshman outside hitter and two-time Conference USA Freshman of the Week Sydney Nemtuda led all players with 18 kills ,which is one shy of her career best.
“I expect us to win almost every match we play,” Nemtuda said. “We are just doing our best to get to the conference tournament and hopefully win it.”
The win brings FAU to a record of 15-7 (6-4 in conference play.) Marshall falls to a record of 9-16 ( 4-6 in conference play.)
With four games remaining in the season ,the Owls are currently sixth in the conference USA standings. If they do not drop below eighth, they stay in line to compete in the eight-team tournament in Bowling Green, Kentucky starting on Nov. 17.
FAU will face UTSA Roadrunners (8-13, 6-3 C- USA) for its next game on Friday, Nov. 3 at noon.
Matt Brown is a contributing writer with the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected].
