FAMU-FSU Volleyball Invitational
- Tallahassee, Florida: Tully Gym/Al Lawson Center
- Sept. 7-8, 2018
- Tournament Central
After dropping their last two matches in five sets on the road, Florida State embraced their home opener at Tully Gym and got back on track with a sweep of VCU to open the Florida A&M/FSU Volleyball Invitational being hosted on both campuses in Tallahassee. The home opener was not as kind to the Rattlers, who were dominated by Southern Miss in a sweep.
Florida State def. VCU 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-16)
- Florida State moves to 2-4; VCU falls to 2-6
- Tully Gym
- Box Score
Key Stats: Florida State used an efficient offensive night to breeze past VCU, hitting .475 to the Rams’ .096 effort. The Seminoles match-low effort was a .469 clip in Set 2. VCU meanwhile started with a .200 effort and descended from there, hitting .107 in Set 2 and .000 in Set 3.
FSU more than doubled VCU’s offensive output, downing 48 kills to just 22 for the Rams. VCU boasted the advantage in blocks (6-4) and aces (3-2).
Stat Leaders: Junior outside hitter Payton Caffrey led the Seminoles for the fourth time this season, racking up 16 kills, while redshirt senior outside Christina Ambrose tacked on 12 putaways. Caffrey hit a .538 clip, while Ambrose chimed in with a .450 effort. Four other players turned in four or more putaways for FSU. Sophomore middle blocker Deja Williams paced the team at the net with three blocks, while redshirt senior middle Ashley Murray and sophomore middle Taryn Knuth put up two stuffs apiece. Senior libero Kelsey Wicinski was tops on the team with 13 digs.
Junior opposite Gina Tuzzolo led a balanced offense for VCU with six putaways. Junior middle Jasmin Sneed (5), junior outside Vicky Giommarini (4) and senior middle Tori Baldwin (4) followed. Tuzzolo hit at a team-high .286 clip, while also added all three of the team’s aces and three blocks. Sneed put up four stuffs to lead the net defense.
It Was Over When: VCU boasted the early advantage in Set 3, going up 7-5 on back-to-back aces by Tuzzolo. Florida State responded with three straight points all on Ram miscues to go up 8-7 briefly. The lead changed hands again at 9-8 VCU and 10-9 FSU before ties at 10, 11 and 12. The Seminoles opened it up from there, scoring four in a row to kick off a final 13-4 run. Ambrose notched four kills and Wicinski and Madison Sullivan served up aces as Florida State closed out the night. Caffrey capped her night with kills on two of the final three points.
Southern Miss def. Florida A&M 3-0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-19)
- Southern Miss moves to 6-2; Florida A&M falls to 0-9
- Al Lawson Center
- Box Score
- Southern Miss Recap / Florida A&M Recap
Key Stats: Florida A&M finally found its offensive footing with a .219 effort in Set 3, but it was too little too late and still fell short of the Golden Eagles’ .265 clip in the stanza.
For the match, Southern Miss boasted a .306 to .065 lead in hitting efficiency, including .333 efforts in the first two stanzas. The Golden Eagles outdid the Rattlers in kills (40-27), aces (6-2), blocks (5-2) and digs (40-23) as well, spoiling Florida A&M’s home opener.
Stat Leaders: Senior outside Kylie Grandy piled up a match-high 13 kills for Southern Miss, while senior middle Alexis Coombs followed with nine kills on a .500 hitting effort (9-3-12). Sophomore outside Chandler Marshall chipped in six kills, while hitting .625 (6-1-8). Senior setter Sarah Bell turned in a 22-assist, 10-dig double-double to go with a team-best three blocks and two aces.
Sophomore middle Aybuke Kocabiyik was tops among the Rattlers with 10 putaways on a team-best .318 hitting effort. Junior outsides Maria Garcia and Radka Dimitrova added five kills apiece. Dimitrova also served up two of the team’s five aces, while senior libero Valentina Carrasco pulled up 11 digs.
It Was Over When: The teams played to a 6-all tie in the final stanza, before Southern Miss broke off an 8-2 to jump ahead by six. Four players posted kills in the stretch, with Grandy added two putaways en route to the 14-8 lead, which the team would not relinquish. The Rattlers cut the margin to four six times, leading to a 20-16 score. The teams then traded three point runs, with the Golden Eagles going ahead 23-16 on an ace by Melanie Miller and Florida A&M answering with kills by Dimitrova and Kocabiyik to keep pace at 23-19. A Coombs kill and an ace by Grandy prevented a further comeback by the Rattlers.
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