BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Old Dominion volleyball team lost in three sets to Florida Atlantic on Friday afternoon inside FAU Arena in the Conference USA opener for both sides.
The Owls (9-5) hit .287 as a team and limited the Monarchs (7-6) to a .103 attacking percentage. Christine Jarman notched a match-high 12 kills for FAU.
FAU led wire-to-wire in a 25-19 win in the first set. With the score tied 2-2, the Owls scored eight unanswered to make it 10-2. The Monarchs tried to undo the deficit and got to within two points at 17-15. ODU scored five-straight points to make the score 15-10 and draw a timeout from the home side. Coming out of that break, the Monarchs took five of the next seven points but could never overtake the Owls.
Madeline Rudd had four kills in the first set and led ODU with 11 kills on 26 swings.
The second set played out much like the first with FAU scoring 10 of the first 12 points and winning 25-16. The Monarchs got to within five at 12-7 but were kept at bay for the remainder of the set. Hailey Duncan notched three kills on five attempts in the second set, and Alessia Sgherza added four.
Unlike the first two sets, the final set was tight as FAU won 27-25. The final set featured 11 ties and seven lead changes. Neither side trailed by more than two points in the early going of the set until FAU went on a 5-0 run to make the score 11-6. ODU came back to tie the set at 13-13, highlighted by back-to-back Sgherza kills. A service ace from Ashley Peroe on the next point put the Monarchs back ahead at 14-13, but the next three points went to the Owls. A kill off the hand of Madelyn Grunza put the Monarchs on top at 20-18 and forced FAU to call timeout. Rudd then gave Old Dominion a 21-18 edge with a kill. The Monarchs still led at 23-21, but the Owls quickly tied it at 23-all. The two sides went back-and-forth over the next four points before Florida Atlantic strung together consecutive points to win the set.
Anna Burkhardt and Jordan Daniel shared the match-high with nine digs. Olivia De Jesus led ODU with four blocks, and Teresa Atilano had three.
The two sides meet tomorrow at 1 p.m.
Volleyball Loses to Florida Atlantic 3-0 in C-USA Opener
