The Florida Atlantic Owls women’s volleyball team (3-1) shut out their South Florida rival, the Florida International University Golden Panthers (0-4) in a 3-0 sweep on Freshman Night. Every freshman received a free FAU t-shirt, the first 50 students received a free FAU water bottle and one lucky freshman won a 40 inch” TV.

Last week, the Owls lost 3-2 (17-25, 25-10, 25-15, 19-25, 11-15) against the Bryant University Bulldogs (2-1) in a close five-set match in the FAU Invitational. However, they swept both the Seton Hall Pirates (1-3) (25-17, 25-23, 25-15) and the Ball State Cardinals (2-1) (25-12, 26-24, 25-20) in 3-0 set matches.

The Owls started strong in their warmups and brought an immense amount of energy to the court. Both FAU and FIU focused specifically on their defensive techniques including serve receive while they prepared for the game. 

Recap 

Starting off in the first set, the Owls were down 3-0 from a FIU serving streak. However, FAUs outside and right sides, Valeria Rosado and Katelynn Robine, stepped up and brought the team to a 14-14 tie by the second timeout of the game. 

The Owls outside hitter, Olivia Hart, kept the game alive during her time in the back row with multiple digs and covers off of blocks. FAU middle hitter Maggie Allred constantly had her eyes open looking for spots to tip or hit the ball on the court, as well as having massive blocks accompanied by her pin hitters. 

FAU middle hitter Madison Dyer closed out the first set with two massive kills, one kill going straight down into seams one and six leading the Owls to match point. Her second kill went straight down the middle finishing with a 25-21 win in the first set.

Heading into the second set after the close first one, the Owls continued to showcase their offensive chemistry. FAU setter Victoria Hensley perfectly connected with her outside pins during this set. Hensley also showed off her excellent defense as a setter in zone one picking up multiple hard hits from the Panthers.

Owls right side Natalie Depaula had multiple blocks and shut down FIU’s outside hitters when they hit against her. After going back and forth on serve receive, Rosado used the defense’s blocks to gain points and took huge swings on the outside hitting cross-court to keep a strong lead of 22-16. Dyer took the last few points again in the second set with an overpass kill and a massive block accompanied by Depaula to end set two with a score of 25-16 over the Panthers.

The final set of the game started close in the first few points, however, Allred with a single block in the middle gave the Owls a three-point lead of 7-4. The entire match was a huge outside-hitting game for FAU because of their offensive strength and the strong connection was clear between Hensley and her pins. 

Robine and Hensley’s connection showed the most in this set. FIU challenged a play on FAU with an out touch, but the play stood. After the challenge, with Robine’s powerhouse of a swing and Hensley’s seamless sets, this duo took the team to 17-12. Not only was the front row’s offense powerful, but their blocks kept FIU’s defense on their toes. 

FAU challenged another out touch with a score of 21-12, this time the call went in the Owls favor. To end the game on a high note, Rosado took a hard swing on the outside to finish off the game 25-16. 

“We have a very great offense and I think we are going to be trouble all year long,” said FAU head coach Fernanda Nelson after the game. 

Nelson explained that the Owls changed their strategy and used their outside more than their right side this game, as well as finding Dyer in the middle towards the end of the game.

Dyer emphasized her bond with Hensley, saying that they have a lot of trust in each other and “I have confidence in her that she’s going to give me a great set and she has confidence in me”.

Hensley added that even being in her second season with new hitters, they all found a level of “comfort and communication of what was wrong and what was right was just so much easier to get going quickly and ready for the opening game”.

The Owls will travel to Lubbock, TX on Sept. 6 to play the University of Wisconsin Green Bay (0-3) in the Red Raider Classic. 

Molly O’Flynn is a contributing writer for the University Press. For more information on this article or others, you can reach Molly at [email protected] or DM on Instagram @molly_oflynn_.