2014 Roster - By Name

L
T                                             PY
R No Name                  Pos     Hgt   Cl   Ltr  Hometown (Prior School)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* 12 Sarah Burrington      MB      6-5   So-R *    Ruskin (Riverview)
*  9 Caroline Dadowski     L-DS    5-5   Jr   **   Pittsburgh, Pa. (Mount Lebanon)
* 13 Laura Dadowski        L-DS    5-6   Jr   **   Pittsburgh, Pa. (Mount Lebanon)
   3 Gabrielle Dixon       RSH     6-2   Fr        Melbourne (Holy Trinity Academy)
  35 Mara Green            MB-RSH  6-1   Jr   **   McDonough, Ga. (Eagle's Landing Christian Ady)
* 20 Karlie Hauer          OH      5-11  Jr        Andover, Minn. (Andover/Minnesota)
*  4 Katie Horton          OH      6-1   So        Westland, Mich. (Wayne Memorial/Ohio)
* 22 Karyn Israel          S       6-0   Jr        Huntington Beach, Calif. (Edison/Minnesota)
*  7 Milica Kubura         OH      6-4   Fr        Belgrade, Serbia (Third Belgrade)
*  8 Hailey Luke           S       6-0   So   *    Altamonte Springs (Lake Brantley)
*  2 Katie Mosher          L-DS    5-9   Sr-R ***  Fort Myers (Bishop Verot)
  11 Kacey Saunier         DS      5-6   Fr        Orlando (Winter Park)
* 14 Mercedes Vaughn       MB      5-11  Jr-R      Folcroft, Pa. (Academy Park/Southern Idaho)
*  5 Nicole Walch          OH      6-2   Jr   **   Stuart (Martin County)
* 10 Sarah Wickstrom       S       5-11  Sr   ***  Stuart (Jensen Beach)
*  1 Cecilie Woie          L-DS    5-5   Fr        Alsvag, Norway
* 21 Kiara Wright          MH      6-1   Jr        Houston, Tex. (Clear Lake/Southern California)

2014 Roster - By Number

L
T                                             PY
R No Name                  Pos     Hgt   Cl   Ltr  Hometown (Prior School)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*  1 Cecilie Woie          L-DS    5-5   Fr        Alsvag, Norway
*  2 Katie Mosher          L-DS    5-9   Sr-R ***  Fort Myers (Bishop Verot)
   3 Gabrielle Dixon       RSH     6-2   Fr        Melbourne (Holy Trinity Academy)
*  4 Katie Horton          OH      6-1   So        Westland, Mich. (Wayne Memorial/Ohio)
*  5 Nicole Walch          OH      6-2   Jr   **   Stuart (Martin County)
*  7 Milica Kubura         OH      6-4   Fr        Belgrade, Serbia (Third Belgrade)
*  8 Hailey Luke           S       6-0   So   *    Altamonte Springs (Lake Brantley)
*  9 Caroline Dadowski     L-DS    5-5   Jr   **   Pittsburgh, Pa. (Mount Lebanon)
* 10 Sarah Wickstrom       S       5-11  Sr   ***  Stuart (Jensen Beach)
  11 Kacey Saunier         DS      5-6   Fr        Orlando (Winter Park)
* 12 Sarah Burrington      MB      6-5   So-R *    Ruskin (Riverview)
* 13 Laura Dadowski        L-DS    5-6   Jr   **   Pittsburgh, Pa. (Mount Lebanon)
* 14 Mercedes Vaughn       MB      5-11  Jr-R      Folcroft, Pa. (Academy Park/Southern Idaho)
* 20 Karlie Hauer          OH      5-11  Jr        Andover, Minn. (Andover/Minnesota)
* 21 Kiara Wright          MH      6-1   Jr        Houston, Tex. (Clear Lake/Southern California)
* 22 Karyn Israel          S       6-0   Jr        Huntington Beach, Calif. (Edison/Minnesota)
  35 Mara Green            MB-RSH  6-1   Jr   **   McDonough, Ga. (Eagle's Landing Christian Ady)

2014 Conference Awards

2014 All-Americans

2014 Schedule and Results

Noles Upset Huskers in Lincoln.
In one of the toughest atmospheres in college volleyball, No. 13 Florida State charges back in front of a record crowd to defeat No. 7 Nebraska 3-1.

LINCOLN, NE – In front of a record-setting crowd of 8,854 the 13th-ranked Florida State indoor volleyball team won three-straight sets and pulled off the 3-1 upset over No. 7 Nebraska on Friday night at the Devaney Center.

The win ties the second highest victory in school history and marks the 20th ranked triumph for FSU head coach Chris Poole and 29th overall as a program.

“Most people think it’s nearly impossible to win at Nebraska,” Poole said. “It was a record crowd and the fact that we were able to do that just shows our potential this year. They’re a great program that teams try to model and I have a lot of respect for them. It’s such a great win for our group.”

In addition, the Seminoles handed their Huskers their first non-conference regular season loss since 2009, when No. 8 UCLA took the victory on Sept. 13, 3-2. It was only the fourth loss out of conference for Nebraska Head Coach John Cook in 15 seasons.

Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher stepped up with a story-book beginning to her final season, posting a new career high, 33 digs – a tally that was five shy of the school record, which was set back in 1991 by Luiza Ramos scoring was different.

“I’m so proud of the way our team fought back,” Mosher said. “Most teams in this environment would crumble, but we had the heart to fight back. I just wanted to come out and play steady and to contribute to such a historic win.”

Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch led the attack with a double-double 18 kills and 15 digs, while sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton produced in double-double figures as well, scoring 16 kills and 10 digs in her first outing in the Garnet and Gold.

“I think it was a great experience tonight,” Walch said. “We had nothing to lose and we came out with intensity and we just wanted to win.”

Redshirt junior Mercedes Vaughn put down eight kills while junior Kiara Wright posted four. Together, Vaughn and Wright contributed towards a team total of eight blocks. Freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura made her debut in the second set and registered five kills.

“We’ve always said that it feels like we’ve been playing together for a while,” Horton said. “If you look at the roster and see how we play, you couldn’t tell who was new. It just felt great to be out there knowing my team had my back.”

Sophomore setter Hailey Luke amassed 25 assists and senior Sarah Wickstrom accounted for 23.

In the first, Nebraska used their home court advantage and strung together a 14-3 run before closing out the set 25-18 to take the 1-0 lead.

“We played hard during those first 10 points in the match,” Poole said. “But we went to sleep a little but our kids showed a tremendous amount of character by not giving up and they came back in the second set and fought.”

The two teams were evenly matched to start the second set before FSU could put together a 6-1 (16-11) to create some distance.

During the run, Mosher provided incredible defense keeping a pair of rallies alive before Walch and redshirt sophomore Sarah Burrington could provide a pair of kills.

“Katie played great for us,” Poole said. “She was digging every ball and getting it where we needed. She was incredible.”

Wickstrom’s serve was on point accounting for a pair of aces at critical times in the set – first giving the Noles a 12-10 edge before taking back the lead late 22-21. Nebraska would commit an attack error before FSU would be called for a service and ball handling error for a tied set 23-23.

The Seminoles would have three set points, earning kills from Horton and Wright before Wright placed the ball on the right corner for the set 27-25 and the 1-1 tie.

The third set saw 10 ties before Wickstrom could give the Noles back the lead with her third ace of the match at 23-22. Horton closed out the set with a kill, 25-20 for the 2-1 advantage.

In the fourth, the Seminoles fell into 9-2 hole before a 7-1 run pulled them within one (10-9) before a setter dump from Luke and a kill from Walch would tie the set at 11. The Seminoles would tie the score three more times before Horton swung for back-to-back points for the 17-16 lead.

Nebraska would not go away, charging back to tie 23-23 before a pair of errors gave Florida State the 3-1 upset.

“Nebraska was able to tie each of those three sets late,” Poole said. “I’m very proud that it was the first match of the season. We have things we need to work on, but that certainly is a great start and to do it in front of a record crowd is good as anything we could have asked for.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               4 17  4  45  0.289   0  0  2   0  11  1  2   0   0  19.0
 5 Nicole Walch               4 18 10  49  0.163   0  0  1   2  15  0  0   0   0  18.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            4  0  0   0  0.000  23  3  1   0   4  0  0   0   1   3.0
12 Sarah Burrington           4  1  3  16 -0.125   0  1  3   0   3  0  2   1   0   3.0
20 Karlie Hauer               2  2  1  13  0.077   0  0  0   0   0  0  1   1   0   2.5
21 Kiara Wright               4  4  2  10  0.200   0  0  0   0   1  0  5   0   0   6.5
   ---Substitutes---
 2 Katie Mosher               4  0  0   0  0.000   3  1  2   0  33  0  0   0   0   1.0
 7 Milica Kubura              3  5  2  13  0.231   0  0  0   0   1  0  1   0   0   5.5
 8 Hailey Luke                4  1  0   1  1.000  25  0  0   0   3  0  0   0   0   1.0
13 Laura Dadowski             1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  1   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            4  8  4  23  0.174   0  0  0   0   1  0  3   1   0   9.5
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        4 56 26 170  0.176  51  5 10   2  72  1 14   3   1  69.0
   Opp                        4 57 26 170  0.182  55  2  7   5  72  5 14   2   0  71.0

FSU Sweeps Iowa State.
No. 13 FLorida State storms into Ames and sweeps Iowa State 3-0 on Sunday.

AMES, IA – The 13th-ranked Florida State indoor volleyball team (2-0) picked up its second win in the AVCA Showcase as it swept Iowa State (0-2) on Sunday, 3-0 at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames.

“Iowa State has been really strong the last five years,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “I am very proud of our girls for going in there and getting a sweep.”

Once again, junior outside hitter Nicole Walch spearheaded the Seminole attack with 18 kills, hitting for .469 percent. The Stuart, Fla. ends the weekend averaging 5.14 kills per set after she tallied 18 kills in Friday’s 3-1 win over No. 7 Nebraska.

“We came out strong,” Walch said. “We wanted to build off the big win on Friday and I thought we did that today. My teammates kept giving me opportunities and as a team we took care of business.”

“Nicole is our most experience returning hitter,” Poole said. “She knows that she needs to be a leader and she is taking that responsibility to heart.”

The Seminoles were big on the net with 14 total team blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington tallied eight block assists, while Walch earned three in addition to one solo. Junior Kiara Wright registered a solo block on top of her four block assists.

“We really focused on the fundamentals today,” Burrington said. “We had great hands and blocked smart and it paid off for us.”

Sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton helped with four block assists and nine kills while redshirt junior Mercedes Vaughn was there for three block assists and four kills.

In the first, Burrington played tough at the net, denying the Cyclones twice before teaming up with Horton for the block assist on the third try, giving the Seminoles a 10-6 advantage.

“I was aggressive during that stretch,” Burrington said. “We felt very prepared for them and we were able to play well at the net.”

After Iowa State called timeout, FSU went up 11-6 before falling victim to an 8-0 Cyclone run. Facing a 11-14 hole, the Seminoles clawed back to tie 16-16. The score was tied three more times before FSU closed out the set on a 6-2 run to take the 1-0 lead, 25-21.

The Seminoles took the momentum into the second and played with a comfortable lead throughout the set. On top of her three block assists at the net, Walch was on powerful on the attack, slamming down seven kills.

Redshirt senior Katie Mosher dished a pair of aces to end the second and take the 2-0 lead as the Seminoles outscored the Cyclones 25-16.

In the third, the Seminoles kept firing on the attack while only giving up 11 points in the set and holding the Cyclones to a negative hitting percentage. Iowa State had no answer for Walch as she poured on seven more kills helping the Seminoles to the 25-11, straight-set victory.

Florida State and third-ranked Stanford went 2-0 over the AVCA Showcase. The Cardinal swept Iowa State on Friday before defeating No. 7 Nebraska 3-0 on Sunday.

Both the Huskers and Cyclones went 0-2.

“This was an exceptional weekend,” Poole said. “We played well and now we have a chance to play Florida on our home floor. It’s going to be great for us to have that opportunity to show our fans the 2014 edition by going against a very high level opponent.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               3  9  6  22  0.136   1  1  2   1  10  0  4   0   0  12.0
 5 Nicole Walch               3 18  3  32  0.469   0  0  1   0   5  1  3   0   0  20.5
10 Sarah Wickstrom            3  0  0   0  0.000  13  0  1   0   2  0  0   0   0   0.0
12 Sarah Burrington           3  3  2  10  0.100   0  0  1   0   0  0  8   1   0   7.0
20 Karlie Hauer               3  4  0  11  0.364   0  0  0   0   0  0  2   0   0   5.0
21 Kiara Wright               3  4  2  11  0.182   1  0  0   0   1  1  4   0   0   7.0
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   1  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               3  0  0   0  0.000   3  2  1   0   5  0  0   0   0   2.0
 8 Hailey Luke                3  0  0   1  0.000  17  0  0   0   5  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            3  4  1   7  0.429   0  0  0   0   1  0  3   0   0   5.5
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        3 42 14  94  0.298  35  3  6   1  30  2 24   1   0  59.0
   Opp                        3 27 24  91  0.033  26  1  4   3  32  1  4   5   1  31.0

Noles Knock Off Gators in Five.
The No. 8 indoor volleyball team outlasted No. 11 Florida 3-2, in front of a packed house at Tully Gym.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - In front of a standing-room only, electric crowd at Tully Gym, the eighth-ranked Florida State (3-0) indoor volleyball team came back to defeat No. 11 Florida (3-1), 3-2 on Thursday night in the Sunshine Showdown.

“I’m really proud of the girls,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “We have a lot of new players in new positions to where we’re still trying to get in sync. So to be 3-0 right now, I wouldn’t have imagined that. It builds well for them and their character.”

It was the first time the rivals went to five sets in the rally scoring era in Tallahassee. A decisive set has also not been play between the squads in Tully since Sept. 7 1993, when FSU won 3-2.

Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch led the Seminole attack for the third-straight match with 15 kills and 10 digs, while hitting .257 percent.

“That game was so awesome,” Walch said. “We didn’t start out strong but we came together and won the match.”

Playing in her first game at home in the Garnet and Gold, freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura was on fire accounting for 14 kills on 25 attempts, hitting .400 percent. The Belgrade, Serbia native also registered one solo and two block assists.

Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington was the third Seminole to score in double figures, hitting 11 kills on 17 attempts for .529 percent. Burrington was big at the net with seven block assists, contributing to a team total of 12.

As a team, the Seminoles out-blocked the Gators 12-6, with redshirt junior Mercedes Vaughn and junior Kiara Wright each contributing to the total. Vaughn put up two solo blocks on top of two assists and eight kills, while Wright had one solo and one assist. She accounted for nine kills as well.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom dished 33 assists and sophomore setter Hailey Luke tallied 24. Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher was under nine digs and six assists.

“We got so much from the audience tonight,” Kubura said. “When we are on the court we are out there on our own but to see all the joy on their faces when we got a point was amazing and kept us going.”

The first set saw 15 ties and four lead changes, however both teams were plagued by service errors that combined for total of 16.

Florida State looked to close out the first set with a pair of set points, however Florida came back to tie, 24-24 after the Seminoles committed a service error and the Gators got a kill.

After trading off service errors, the Gators produced a kill from Simone Antwi for their first set point, however Wright put down kill to tie 27-27. After the 28-28 tie, the Seminoles committed a service error before Antwi dished an ace to put Florida up 1-0.

In the second, the Seminoles recharged and got in front early. Holding the 8-7 edge, Wickstrom sparked a 6-0 run while on serve, putting the Noles up 14-7.

Florida hung around and made a late 5-0 run to cut the Seminole lead to 21-19, but FSU closed out the set with a 4-1 scamper to finish, 25-20 to tie the match 1-1.

After FSU jumped out to a 15-10 lead at the media timeout in the third, Florida put together a 7-2 run to tie it 17-17. The score was knotted twice more before FSU fell behind by three, 20-23.

The Noles were in need of a huge play when Vaughn pulled up for a major block at the net, however a service error gave the Gators set point at 21-24.

Following by a timeout after the Gators were guilty of a service error, Vaughn leaped for another big block, fending off another set point but the Gators closed it out, 25-23 after Antwi swung for a kill and the 2-1 lead.

The set stayed even in the fourth as the lead never passed two points for each team until Luke dished an ace to give FSU set point at 24-21. A UF kill and an FSU attacking error looked like it could fuel another Gator run, however Walch put an end to the set with a kill to force a decisive fifth (25-23).

After trailing 3-1 early, Kubura got the side out with a kill, putting Luke on serve. Luke ignited 5-0 run, giving the Seminoles the 6-4 advantage. After trading points, FSU finished the decisive set on a 5-2 rally, getting help from junior defensive specialist Laura Dadowski’s serve that set up two kills and two Florida errors down the stretch.

“This team showed so much character,” Mosher said. “We could have folded after losing that third set, but we had the heart to push through and we kept believing and trusting in each other.”

Florida State won the fifth, 15-9.

“I don’t think people realize what a big factor the crowd is for a volleyball match,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “It’s such a momentum sport and you can play up and down, but if you add the energy of the crowd – a couple of those sets were one or two points and the crowd did make a difference.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               5  8  4  19  0.211   0  0  4   2   8  0  1   0   0   8.5
 5 Nicole Walch               5 15  6  35  0.257   0  1  4   0  10  0  3   1   0  17.5
 7 Milica Kubura              5 14  4  25  0.400   0  0  0   0   0  1  2   0   0  16.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            5  0  0   0  0.000  33  0  0   0   4  0  0   0   0   0.0
12 Sarah Burrington           5 11  2  17  0.529   0  2  2   0   1  0  7   0   0  16.5
21 Kiara Wright               5  9  5  16  0.250   0  0  0   0   2  1  1   0   0  10.5
   ---Substitutes---
 2 Katie Mosher               5  1  1   3  0.000   6  0  1   1   9  0  0   0   0   1.0
 8 Hailey Luke                5  0  0   0  0.000  24  1  0   0   6  0  0   0   1   1.0
13 Laura Dadowski             1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            5  8  2  16  0.375   1  0  0   0   0  2  2   0   0  11.0
   Team                                                      1                  
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        5 66 24 131  0.321  64  4 11   4  40  4 16   1   1  82.0
   Opp                        5 65 24 138  0.297  63  4 20   4  31  3  6   2   1  75.0

FSU Holds Off Marquette in Five.
Sarah Wickstrom, Nicole Walch and Sarah Burrington all recorded new career highs in the 3-2 win over Marquette.

WASHINGTON, DC - For the second-consecutive match, the eighth-ranked Florida State indoor volleyball team won in five sets, this time holding off Marquette 3-2 on Saturday in the American Tournament which is being played in the Bender Arena.

“That was a tough road match for us,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “Marquette has a different style of a team. They’re not as big and physical, but they’re very well-coached and they have great skills. They will play for their conference championship and do well this season.”

After falling short in the fourth set following a comeback, Florida State stared hot in the fifth, jumping out to an 8-2 lead at the switch. Marquette would not go away as they put together a 5-2 run of their own, but a kill from junior Kiara Wright gave the Seminoles an 11-7 advantage.

Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington swug for two kills down the stretch before a kill from freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura set the Seminoles up with match point 14-11.

The Golden Eagles refused to quit, scoring a pair of points, but a block from Kubura and Wright lifted the Seminoles to the 15-13 fifth set win.

Burrington, along with junior outside hitter Nicole Walch set new career highs for kills, while senior setter Sarah Wickstrom scored a career best in assists.

Walch led the attack with 24 kills and eight digs and Burrington had 16 kills on 22 attempts while hitting for .682 percent.

“Sarah Burrington caught fire this week,” Poole said. “She played well like we expected and she had a great offensive match. Nicole struggled at times, but she made the plays when she needed to make them.”

Wickstrom scored her first double-double of the season, dishing 39 assists and 12 digs.

“Both Sarah and Hailey (Luke) did a great job running the offense today,” Poole said. “Burrington and Wickstrom connected very well.”

Kubura had another solid outing, scoring 12 kills along with five block assists. Wright was also big on the block with one solo and five assists on top contributing 7 kills.

Senior redshirt libero Katie Mosher was under 19 digs and tallied eight assists and a pair of aces.

“She did a great job digging some hard hits late,” Poole said.

Florida State could not find a rhythm in the first as Marquette pulled ahead with a 6-2 run following a 10-10 tie to put the Seminoles in a 12-17 hole. FSU made a 4-1 push toward the end of the set, but Marquette held off the charge and took the 1-0, lead 25-21.

The second set, FSU started off hot and took an 8-3 lead with kills from Burrington, Wright, Vaughn, Walch and Kubura. Throughout the set, the Seminoles built off their five-point advantage before closing out the set 25-19.

FSU carried the momentum into the third, starting off with a monstrous 10-0 run that set the tone for the set. The Seminoles took the third, 25-19 and the 2-1 lead.

In the fourth, the Seminoles fell into a 15-23 hole. Not giving in, they quickly put together a 5-0 scamper before Nele Barber put down a kill for Marquette setting up set point.

However, the Noles were not finished and came back to tie the set 24-24. Florida State fended off a total of six set points before Marquette took the fourth 27-25, forcing a fifth set.

In the fifth, Florida State held on for the 15-13 and 3-2 victory.

“We knew this would be a tough stretch for us,” Poole said. “We had a short week of practice and we have a big match tomorrow. We need to play moreconsistent and we need to play well tomorrow.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               5  9  3  22  0.273   1  0  1   0  11  0  1   1   1   9.5
 5 Nicole Walch               5 24 13  55  0.200   0  0  0   2   8  0  1   0   0  24.5
10 Sarah Wickstrom            5  0  0   1  0.000  39  0  1   0  12  0  0   0   2   0.0
12 Sarah Burrington           5 16  1  22  0.682   1  1  0   0   1  0  3   0   0  18.5
20 Karlie Hauer               2  0  0   2  0.000   0  0  0   1   1  0  0   0   0   0.0
21 Kiara Wright               5  7  2  12  0.417   1  0  0   0   0  1  5   2   0  10.5
   ---Substitutes---
 2 Katie Mosher               5  0  1   2 -0.500   8  2  2   1  19  0  0   0   0   2.0
 7 Milica Kubura              4 12  3  26  0.346   0  0  0   0   4  0  5   0   1  14.5
 8 Hailey Luke                5  0  0   0  0.000  23  0  0   0   7  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            5  6  4  12  0.167   0  0  0   0   2  0  1   0   0   6.5
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        5 74 27 154  0.305  73  3  4   4  65  1 16   3   4  86.0
   Opp                        5 61 24 158  0.234  55  4 10   3  42  4 14   2   0  76.0

Noles Outlast American.
No. 8 Florida State wins its third-straight set five set thriller on Sunday.

WASHINGTON, DC - Less than 24 hours after its last fifth-set victory over Marquette, the eighth-ranked Florida State indoor volleyball team (5-0) defeated American (3-2) on Sunday, 3-2 (19-25, 25-12, 25-22, 10-25, 15-9) on the road in Bender Arena.

“American and Marquette will both play for their conference championships,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “This American team knocked out Duke in the second round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament and they returned a lot of their players. We knew it was going to be tough.”

The Seminoles have not won a stretch of three matches in five sets since the 2011 NCAA Tournament, when FSU defeated Cincinnati, Purdue and Iowa State on the road to the Final Four.

Florida State starts 5-0 for the second time during the Poole era, this time knocking off a pair of ranked teams (No. 7 Nebraska, No. 11 Florida) as well as three squads that received votes for the AVCA Coaches Poll (Iowa State, Marquette, American).

“That’s why we schedule these tough matches,” Poole said. “We had different people step up today.”

In the fifth, the Seminoles started with a 4-1 lead before American went on a 4-1 scamper to tie 5-5. Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington put down a great set from sophomore setter Hailey Luke to give the Noles the 6-5 lead.

After her kill and an American error, Burrington helped spark a 5-1 run with a pair of kills and a block assist to give the Seminoles the 11-6 advantage. Junior outside hitter Karlie Hauer came up big with a few clutch plays, scoring a kill while fueling a pair on serve during the run. Hauer and Burrington also registered a block down the stretch.

“No one was a bigger hero than Karlie,” Poole said. “She had to step up in the fifth set under extreme pressure and she made some great plays.”

Junior defensive specialist Laura Dadowski subbed in to serve up 12-7 and set up junior Kiara Wright for the kill (13-7).

After a FSU ball handling error and a kill from American’s Monkia Smidova, junior outside hitter Nicole Walch delivered her 18th kill of the match before redshirt junior Mercedes Vaughn tucked home the final point, giving the Noles the 3-2, 15-9 victory.

Walch led the attack with her fourth double-double of the year, posting 18 kills and 10 digs, while sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton tied her career high for kills with 17.

Burrington also had another solid day, scoring nine kills while contributing three block assists. Wright tallied five block assists while Vaughn scored a solo block and three assists as the Seminoles tallied 10.5 total blocks on the day.

Redshirt senior Katie Mosher produced 21 digs while delivering three aces.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom amassed 29 assists and Luke accounted for 23. Both setter contributed an ace as well.

Florida State got off to a slow start in the first, trailing for the majority of the set. After a late 3-0 charge, FSU looked to tie the set but an error fueled a 6-2 run by American who would win the first 25-19.

In the second set at a 4-4 tie, Mosher’s serve sparked a 6-0 run that included a pair of aces and kills from Horton and Vaughn in order to put the Seminoles up 10-4. Florida State kept its distance and finished the set, 25-12 to tie the match 1-1.

The third set was even as the score was tied 18 times before the Seminoles scored back-to-back kills from Walch and Vaughn late to go up 23-21. American called timeout and got a kills from Allison Cappellino, but FSU grabbed the next two points as Walch swung for a kill before Wright and Horton put up a block to end the third 25-22 in order to take the 2-1 lead.

Florida State went cold in the fourth as American forced a fifth by winning the set 25-10.

The Seminoles recharged and grabbed their third fifth-set victory of 2014, 15-9.

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               5 17  3  34  0.412   0  0  2   1   5  1  3   0   0  19.5
 5 Nicole Walch               5 18  6  44  0.273   1  1  3   2  10  0  0   1   0  19.0
 7 Milica Kubura              5  5  3  17  0.118   0  0  0   0   5  0  2   0   0   6.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            5  0  1   1 -1.000  29  1  0   0   9  0  0   0   0   1.0
12 Sarah Burrington           5  9  2  17  0.412   0  0  2   0   1  0  3   0   0  10.5
21 Kiara Wright               5  5  2   9  0.333   0  0  0   0   1  0  5   1   0   7.5
   ---Substitutes---
 2 Katie Mosher               5  0  0   1  0.000   7  3  1   1  21  0  0   0   0   3.0
 8 Hailey Luke                5  1  1   3  0.000  23  1  0   0   3  0  0   0   1   2.0
13 Laura Dadowski             3  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            5  7  1  15  0.400   0  0  0   0   0  1  3   1   0   9.5
20 Karlie Hauer               2  1  1   6  0.000   0  0  0   0   3  0  1   1   0   1.5
   Team                                                      1                  
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        5 63 20 147  0.293  60  6  8   5  58  2 17   4   1  79.5
   Opp                        5 55 18 139  0.266  51  5  5   6  55  2  8   1   1  66.0

Noles Sweep Bulldogs.
The No. 7 Florida State Seminoles swept Samford, 3-0.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - The seventh-ranked Florida State (6-0) indoor volleyball team returned home to Tully Gym in dominating fashion with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-8, 25-13) sweep of Samford (3-5) in its first match of the Four Points by Sheraton Seminole Invitational.

“We worked really hard this week on our blocking,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “It was lacking last week. Part of it is players playing next to each other that haven’t played next to each other before. We’re still trying to get the new players used to the returning ones.”

The Seminoles were a force at the net, putting up a total of 13.5 total team blocks while holding Samford to a negative hitting percentage. FSU was led by redshirt sophomore Sarah Burrington, who contributed seven block assists. The Ruskin, Fla. native added seven kills, while delivering three aces. She also registered a dig.

“We knew we were going to play hard,” Burrington said. “We knew that we needed to clean up the errors, so we focused on that and we went hard for every ball.”

Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch led the attack with 13 kills while hitting .522 percent. Walch was big on the block with four assists and she was under five digs.

Also instrumental with the block was junior Kiara Wright and sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton, who contributed five block assists each.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom dished 18 assists while sophomore setter Hailey Luke tallied nine. Both setters contributed an ace.

Redshirt senior Katie Mosher registered seven digs and two assists while accounting for an ace.

Florida State jumped out to a 14-7 lead in the first set, but then surrendered a 7-1 run to Samford before Coach Poole called timeout up 15-13. The Seminoles outscored the Bulldogs 10-6 down the stretch in order to take the 1-0 lead 25-19.

“We’ve only won one of our first sets this season,” Walch said. “We really wanted to come out and win the first set. We came out a little sloppy but we took care of business.”

Burrington helped on the block with four block assists in the first, contributing to a team total of five.

“Blocking is my favorite thing,” Burrington said. “It’s great to know that we can stop the other team before they get it to our side of the net.”

Early in the second, the Seminoles went on a 9-0 charge to go up 12-4. FSU would outscore Samford 25-9 to take the 2-0 lead.

The Seminoles kept the foot on the gas in the third, dominating from start to finish closing out the match 25-13.

“This season we seem to play down that first set,” Poole said. “Then we try and rise up in sets two and three I thought they did that tonight. We finished very strong and that was encouraging.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               3  5  6  13 -0.077   0  0  1   0   2  0  5   0   0   7.5
 5 Nicole Walch               3 13  1  23  0.522   0  1  0   1   5  0  4   1   0  16.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            3  0  0   0  0.000  18  1  1   0   6  0  0   0   1   1.0
12 Sarah Burrington           3  7  2  14  0.357   0  3  1   0   1  0  7   1   0  13.5
20 Karlie Hauer               3  4  1  12  0.250   0  0  0   0   0  0  4   1   0   6.0
21 Kiara Wright               3  1  0   4  0.250   0  0  0   0   0  0  5   1   0   3.5
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               2  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  1   0   1  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               3  0  0   1  0.000   2  1  1   0   7  0  0   0   0   1.0
 8 Hailey Luke                3  0  0   0  0.000  11  1  0   0   2  0  0   0   0   1.0
 9 Caroline Dadowski          1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  1   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
13 Laura Dadowski             1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            3  4  1   7  0.429   0  0  0   0   0  0  2   0   0   5.0
   Team                                                      1                  
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        3 34 11  74  0.311  31  7  6   2  24  0 27   4   1  54.5
   Opp                        3 18 28  76 -0.132  18  2  5   7  25  0 12   1   0  26.0

FSU Wins Two on Day Two.
The No. 7 FLorida State indoor volleyball team added two wins on Saturday, moving to 8-0 on the season.

TALLAHASSEE, FL – The seventh-ranked Florida State (8-0) indoor volleyball team fought for a pair of wins on Saturday at Tully Gym in the Four Points by Sheraton Seminole Invitational. The Seminoles first defeated Central Arkansas in straight sets (25-11, 25-18, 25-17) before grinding out a 3-1 victory over LSU (19-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-16).

Florida State won the tournament with a 3-0 record, while Central Arkansas was second (2-1) and LSU was third (1-2). Samford finished fourth (0-3). Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch, redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington and redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher were named to the All-Tournament Team for their consistent play throughout the weekend.

The 8-0 start to the season is the first since 1997, when the Seminoles came out 12-0 before dropping their first match to third-ranked Florida.

Both captains surpassed milestones during the double-header as senior setter Sarah Wickstorm moved into ninth place on the FSU All-Time Assists list with a new total of 2,326 passing Maureen McCarthy who amassed 2,297 during the 1994-96 season.

Wickstrom tallied 36 assists on the day, putting up 17 in the win over the Sugar Bears before adding 19 against LSU.

Mosher earned her 1,700 career dig in the early contest. She had eight digs against Central Arkansas before turning it up a notch against LSU, tallying 23 digs.

Florida State had to come back to defeat LSU in the second match of the day after dropping the first set.

“We weren’t sure how we were going to react once we hit adversity,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “We certainly did tonight. LSU played great. They had a great game plan and they played hard. We had some players step up and we had some players that were off and it was good to be in that situation.”

Redshirt freshman Milica Kubura led the attack with 15 kills, setting a new season high.

“It’s important for us (to get the win) because we’re learning from every match,” Kubura said. “We’re better than our last match. When we came out and played bad in the first set it motivated us to get better and we did.”

Three Seminoles registered double-doubles for the match as Walch swatted 14 kills and produced 15 digs in addition to both setters earning the honor. Sophomore Hailey Luke tied her career high for assists with 28 while recording 11 digs, while Wickstrom had 17 assists and 12 digs. Wickstrom delivered three aces on the night and Luke had 1.

Burrington tallied 10 kills, while hitting .500 percent and added five block assists and a solo.

In the first set against the Tigers, Florida State started out of sync, falling into a 4-12 hole. The Seminoles put together some points and were looking to go on a run, but the deficit was too great as LSU took the 1-0 lead, 25-19.

Shaking off the first, the Seminoles jumped out to the 8-3 lead early. Holding the five-point cushion despite dropping long-intense rallies to the Tigers, FSU kept its distance by earning an 85 percent side out rate during the second. Florida State tied the match 1-1 after taking set two, 25-19.

The third set score was tied three times before Wickstrom’s serve gave the Tigers fits resulting in a 6-0 run to take the 15-12 advantage. However, LSU pieced together a 6-3 scamper forcing an 18-18 tie and a FSU timeout.

Florida State made an error off the break, but Walch swung for a huge kill to knot it at 19. After another stalemate at 20, the Tigers committed an error and Kubura buried a kill to go up 22-20.

Not backing down, LSU picked up two big points from long rallies to tie at 22, but Kubura was too tough from the right side, swinging for a kill before teaming up for a block to give the Noles set point at 24-22.

Sophomre outside hitter Katie Horton secured the 2-1 lead after tucking home a kill ending the third, 25-23.

Breaking through an early 4-4 tie in the fourth, the Seminoles put up an 8-3 run taking the 12-7 lead with major production from Burrington as she registered a solo block and two kills during the streak.

Florida State closed out the fourth outscoring LSU 25-16 to win the match 3-1.

“LSU was playing tough all night,” Mosher said. “There were a lot of long points tonight and we didn’t always come out on top of those, but it shows a lot of character for our team to be able to come back in and come through.”

In the first match of the day, Walch led the attack with ten kills on 11 attempts, hitting for a career high percentage of .818. She also had six digs. Wright accounted for seven kills and two block assists.

The Seminoles put up nine total team blocks, as Burrington led with four block assists.

As a team, the Seminoles produced the third-best hitting percentage under Coach Poole, tallying 36 kills while hitting for .478 percent.

In the first, Florida State went on a 9-0 run with Walch on serve, who produced two aces during the charge to go up 16-5. The Seminoles grabbed the 1-0 lead by taking the first, 25-11.

Florida State held on to win the second set 25-18 before capping of its second straight 3-0 sweep closing out the third set, 25-17.

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               2  4  0   7  0.571   0  0  1   0   2  1  0   0   0   5.0
 5 Nicole Walch               3 10  1  11  0.818   0  2  2   0   6  2  1   0   0  14.5
10 Sarah Wickstrom            3  0  0   0  0.000  17  2  3   0   3  0  0   0   0   2.0
12 Sarah Burrington           3  4  0   7  0.571   0  0  0   0   1  0  4   0   0   6.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            3  4  0  11  0.364   0  0  0   0   2  0  2   0   0   5.0
21 Kiara Wright               3  7  1  11  0.545   0  0  0   0   1  0  2   3   0   8.0
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               3  0  0   1  0.000   2  0  1   0   8  0  0   0   0   0.0
 7 Milica Kubura              2  2  0   6  0.333   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   2.0
 8 Hailey Luke                3  0  1   1 -1.000  15  0  0   0   1  0  0   0   2   0.0
13 Laura Dadowski             1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   2  0  0   0   0   0.0
20 Karlie Hauer               3  5  1  12  0.333   0  1  0   1   2  0  3   0   0   7.5
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        3 36  4  67  0.478  34  5  7   1  28  3 12   3   2  50.0
   Opp                        3 31 24  91  0.077  31  1  7   5  26  0  2   1   1  33.0

FSU Wins Two on Day Two.
The No. 7 FLorida State indoor volleyball team added two wins on Saturday, moving to 8-0 on the season.

TALLAHASSEE, FL – The seventh-ranked Florida State (8-0) indoor volleyball team fought for a pair of wins on Saturday at Tully Gym in the Four Points by Sheraton Seminole Invitational. The Seminoles first defeated Central Arkansas in straight sets (25-11, 25-18, 25-17) before grinding out a 3-1 victory over LSU (19-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-16).

Florida State won the tournament with a 3-0 record, while Central Arkansas was second (2-1) and LSU was third (1-2). Samford finished fourth (0-3). Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch, redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington and redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher were named to the All-Tournament Team for their consistent play throughout the weekend.

The 8-0 start to the season is the first since 1997, when the Seminoles came out 12-0 before dropping their first match to third-ranked Florida.

Both captains surpassed milestones during the double-header as senior setter Sarah Wickstorm moved into ninth place on the FSU All-Time Assists list with a new total of 2,326 passing Maureen McCarthy who amassed 2,297 during the 1994-96 season.

Wickstrom tallied 36 assists on the day, putting up 17 in the win over the Sugar Bears before adding 19 against LSU.

Mosher earned her 1,700 career dig in the early contest. She had eight digs against Central Arkansas before turning it up a notch against LSU, tallying 23 digs.

Florida State had to come back to defeat LSU in the second match of the day after dropping the first set.

“We weren’t sure how we were going to react once we hit adversity,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “We certainly did tonight. LSU played great. They had a great game plan and they played hard. We had some players step up and we had some players that were off and it was good to be in that situation.”

Redshirt freshman Milica Kubura led the attack with 15 kills, setting a new season high.

“It’s important for us (to get the win) because we’re learning from every match,” Kubura said. “We’re better than our last match. When we came out and played bad in the first set it motivated us to get better and we did.”

Three Seminoles registered double-doubles for the match as Walch swatted 14 kills and produced 15 digs in addition to both setters earning the honor. Sophomore Hailey Luke tied her career high for assists with 28 while recording 11 digs, while Wickstrom had 17 assists and 12 digs. Wickstrom delivered three aces on the night and Luke had 1.

Burrington tallied 10 kills, while hitting .500 percent and added five block assists and a solo.

In the first set against the Tigers, Florida State started out of sync, falling into a 4-12 hole. The Seminoles put together some points and were looking to go on a run, but the deficit was too great as LSU took the 1-0 lead, 25-19.

Shaking off the first, the Seminoles jumped out to the 8-3 lead early. Holding the five-point cushion despite dropping long-intense rallies to the Tigers, FSU kept its distance by earning an 85 percent side out rate during the second. Florida State tied the match 1-1 after taking set two, 25-19.

The third set score was tied three times before Wickstrom’s serve gave the Tigers fits resulting in a 6-0 run to take the 15-12 advantage. However, LSU pieced together a 6-3 scamper forcing an 18-18 tie and a FSU timeout.

Florida State made an error off the break, but Walch swung for a huge kill to knot it at 19. After another stalemate at 20, the Tigers committed an error and Kubura buried a kill to go up 22-20.

Not backing down, LSU picked up two big points from long rallies to tie at 22, but Kubura was too tough from the right side, swinging for a kill before teaming up for a block to give the Noles set point at 24-22.

Sophomre outside hitter Katie Horton secured the 2-1 lead after tucking home a kill ending the third, 25-23.

Breaking through an early 4-4 tie in the fourth, the Seminoles put up an 8-3 run taking the 12-7 lead with major production from Burrington as she registered a solo block and two kills during the streak.

Florida State closed out the fourth outscoring LSU 25-16 to win the match 3-1.

“LSU was playing tough all night,” Mosher said. “There were a lot of long points tonight and we didn’t always come out on top of those, but it shows a lot of character for our team to be able to come back in and come through.”

In the first match of the day, Walch led the attack with ten kills on 11 attempts, hitting for a career high percentage of .818. She also had six digs. Wright accounted for seven kills and two block assists.

The Seminoles put up nine total team blocks, as Burrington led with four block assists.

As a team, the Seminoles produced the third-best hitting percentage under Coach Poole, tallying 36 kills while hitting for .478 percent.

In the first, Florida State went on a 9-0 run with Walch on serve, who produced two aces during the charge to go up 16-5. The Seminoles grabbed the 1-0 lead by taking the first, 25-11.

Florida State held on to win the second set 25-18 before capping of its second straight 3-0 sweep closing out the third set, 25-17.

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               4  5  6  31 -0.032   0  0  0   0  13  0  1   0   0   5.5
 5 Nicole Walch               4 14  5  45  0.200   0  3  1   2  15  0  2   1   0  18.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            4  0  0   1  0.000  19  3  1   0  12  0  0   0   1   3.0
12 Sarah Burrington           4 10  1  18  0.500   0  0  2   0   2  1  5   0   0  13.5
14 Mercedes Vaughn            1  0  4   8 -0.500   1  0  0   0   0  0  2   0   0   1.0
21 Kiara Wright               4  8  1  17  0.412   0  0  0   0   0  1  1   2   0   9.5
   ---Substitutes---
 2 Katie Mosher               4  0  0   1  0.000   6  1  1   0  23  0  0   0   0   1.0
 7 Milica Kubura              4 15  4  29  0.379   0  0  0   0   2  0  1   0   0  15.5
 8 Hailey Luke                4  0  0   2  0.000  28  1  0   0  11  0  0   0   1   1.0
13 Laura Dadowski             2  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
20 Karlie Hauer               3  5  3  13  0.154   0  0  0   0   1  0  0   0   0   5.0
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        4 57 24 165  0.200  54  8  5   2  79  2 12   3   2  73.0
   Opp                        4 49 19 156  0.192  45  2  5   8  76  1 18   1   2  61.0

FSU Survives in Five.
The No. 6 Florida State indoor volleyball team outlasted Auburn 3-2 to remain unbeaten.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - For the fourth time this season, the sixth-ranked Florida State indoor volleyball team (9-0) won a five-set match, 3-2 (25-17, 26-28, 17-25, 25-16, 15-8) this time topping Auburn (5-5) in Tully Gym on Tuesday.

"We had some players step up at critical times tonight," FSU head coach Chris Poole said, "That's encouraging. We're still finding a way to win the match which is the most important thing."

In the fifth, FSU grabbed an 8-5 lead at the switch after a pair of blocks, both involving redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington. A kill from junior outside hitter Nicole Walch made it 9-5 and forced Auburn to call a timeout.

Out of the break, FSU committed a pair of errors cutting the lead to 9-7 causing Poole to call time out.

The Seminoles recharged and went to the clutch hand of Burrington for the kill before senior setter Sarah Wickstrom delivered a huge ace. An Auburn attack error gave FSU breathing room at 12-7.

Auburn earned the side out, but the Seminoles charged to the win by taking next three points as Burrington and Walch stood tall for a block to seal the match, 15-8.

"We had a lot of things to talk about and a lot we needed to work on," Burrington said. "That's what we did and we came out and gave it our best."

Walch led the Seminole attack with 16 kills and Burrington put up 14 while hitting .522 percent. Junior middle blocker Kiara Wright set a new career high with 11 kills and hit for .350 percent.

"This team is a lot different than any other team I've been a part of," Wright said. "We had a lot of character and heart and when we're down, we don't think about being down, we think about getting momentum and coming out and playing."

The Seminoles put up 14 total blocks as Burrington registered nine block assists with Wright posting four. Walch had five block assists and sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton produced four on top of one solo stop.

Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher produced her second career 30-dig effort, while posting three assists and an ace.

Wickstrom tallied 38 assists while sophomore setter Hailey Luke amassed 16 assists.

Florida State came out of the gates firing in the first, opening with a 6-0 run with junior outside hitter Karlie Hauer on serve forcing Auburn to call timeout. The Seminoles kept well ahead of the Tigers throughout the set, despite a few runs. FSU grabbed the 1-0 edge 25-17.

In the second, the Seminoles fell into a 2-7 hole early. The Noles would chip away at the lead, pulling within one down 8-9 but Auburn stayed tough piecing together a 4-1 run to go up 13-9.

Seeing that Burrington was tough to stop, Wickstrom dished a pair of perfect sets at critical times in the set in order to pull within one twice. The Seminoles took over the lead late at 19-18, but, Auburn took it right back at 20-19.

FSU picked it up for a 3-0 stretch after Wright put down a set from Luke before Mosher smashed an ace to go ahead 22-20, but the Noles committed back-to-back errors knotting it at 22 forcing Poole to use another timeout.

Following stalemates at 22 and 23, the Noles had set point, however a service error tied it again for the eighth time in the set. Auburn took the set point advantage before Burrington fought it off with a kill, however Auburn took back the lead 26-25. Hauer delivered a much-needed strike from the right side shaking off another set point, but the Tigers had an answer with consecutive kills from Courtney Crable closing out the set 28-26 to knot the match 1-1.

After five early ties in the third set, Auburn opened up an 11-8 edge before Poole called timeout. Out of the break, FSU surrendered three more quick points falling in an 8-14 hole forcing Poole to burn another timeout.

Florida State could not find their rhythm or answer the Tigers as Auburn took the 2-1 lead 25-17.

Facing defeat heading into the fourth, the Seminoles started firing from the right side and hung a big 12-4 lead on the Tigers. Auburn responded with a 4-0 run, however the Noles settled down and found a way to side out the rest of the set, putting up an 81 percent side out rate in the fourth. FSU tied it 2-2, 25-16.

Florida State grabbed the fifth 15-8.

"They showed a lot of character coming back," Poole said. "Especially after losing the second and third sets. We struggled and made a lot of errors and it was upsetting because that's our side of the net. We're going to have to go back and get sharper for this weekend."

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 5 Nicole Walch               4 16  6  35  0.286   0  1  2   1   9  0  5   0   0  19.5
10 Sarah Wickstrom            5  0  0   0  0.000  38  2  1   0   3  0  0   0   1   2.0
12 Sarah Burrington           5 14  2  23  0.522   0  0  0   0   2  0  9   0   0  18.5
14 Mercedes Vaughn            5  6  3  22  0.136   0  0  0   0   1  0  3   0   0   7.5
20 Karlie Hauer               2  3  3  14  0.000   0  0  0   0   5  0  0   0   0   3.0
21 Kiara Wright               5 11  4  20  0.350   1  0  0   0   0  0  4   2   0  13.0
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   1  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               5  0  0   0  0.000   3  1  3   0  30  0  0   0   0   1.0
 4 Katie Horton               4  8  4  26  0.154   0  0  3   0   6  1  4   0   0  11.0
 7 Milica Kubura              5  6  4  14  0.143   0  0  0   0   0  0  1   0   0   6.5
 8 Hailey Luke                5  0  0   2  0.000  16  0  1   0   5  0  0   0   0   0.0
13 Laura Dadowski             1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   1  0  0   0   0   0.0
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        5 64 26 156  0.244  58  4 10   1  63  1 26   2   1  82.0
   Opp                        5 56 28 159  0.176  49  1  9   4  60  7  8   2   3  68.0

FSU Tops Texas A&M.
The No. 6 Florida State indoor volleyball team defeated No. 21 Texas A&M 3-1 in the first of two matches on Friday.

COLLEGE STATION, TX – The sixth-ranked Florida State indoor volleyball team defeated No. 21 Texas A&M 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 26-24, 25-21) on Friday in Reed Arena to move to 10-0 on the season. It marks the third victory over an AVCA Top 25 program this season.

“We played with a lot of heart again,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “We still made too many mistakes and there were times we struggled, but we made the big plays at the right time.”

Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch led the charge with a double-double, scoring 20 kills and 13 digs. She also accounted for one solo block and two block assists.

Producing her second double-double of the season was sophomore setter Hailey Luke, who tallied 21 assists and 11 digs, while senior setter Sarah Wickstrom had 27 assists.

Sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton was also big on the attack producing 15 kills hitting for .406 percent. She had nine digs on top of three block assists.

As a team, the Seminoles put up 14 total blocks, led by redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington, who had eight block assists. She also recorded eight kills.

Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher tallied 18 digs, moving her into second place on the FSU All-Time Career Digs list with 1,778.

With each set close the entire way, the Seminoles opened up a small lead after the 12-12 tie in the first with Burrington on serve to pull ahead 14-12 after an ace. After a stretch of errors by the Aggies and a pair of kills from Walch, FSU took a 20-15 lead before Texas A&M put together a pair of points to pull within three.

Down the stretch up 23-22 after an Aggie block, Texas A&M committed a service error giving the Seminoles set point.

Junior defensive specialist Laura Dadowksi entered the game and smashed an ace for the 25-22, first set 1-0 lead.

The second set proved to be similar as there were 13 ties and three lead changes.

At the 13th tie, Texas A&M called timeout after Burrington and Horton came up with a block, knotting it at 23. Out of the break, the Aggies set up a kill before Angela Lowak delivered an ace tying the match 1-1, 25-23.

The third set was even more competitive seeing 16 ties in score and five lead changes, however Florida State started in a 3-8 hole before putting together a 5-0 stretch to tie, 8-8.

The Seminoles took over the lead for the fifth time after Walch fended off set point with a kill before taking the 25-24 advantage with another. Juniors Kiara Wright and Mercedes Vaughn would stop a shot on the block to give the Noles the 2-1, 26-24 lead heading into the fourth.

In the fourth, Florida State did not take over the lead until late, 19-18. The Seminoles outscored the Aggies 7-3 down the stretch for the 25-21 victory.

“Both teams will look to make adjustments before tomorrow,” Poole said. “We need to step up and take on another challenge.”

Mosher Moves Into Second.

Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher moved into second place on the FSU All-Time Digs List after her 18 dig effort on Friday, passing Luiza Ramos who tallied 1,771 during the 1991-94 seasons.

Mosher needs 82 more digs to claim the FSU Career Digs school record. She currently has 1,778.

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               4 15  2  32  0.406   1  0  2   1   9  0  3   0   0  16.5
 5 Nicole Walch               4 20 11  48  0.188   0  2  0   1  13  1  2   0   1  24.0
 7 Milica Kubura              2  1  3   7 -0.286   0  0  0   0   0  0  1   0   0   1.5
10 Sarah Wickstrom            4  1  0   2  0.500  27  0  0   0   5  0  0   0   3   1.0
12 Sarah Burrington           4  8  2  20  0.300   0  1  1   0   3  0  8   0   0  13.0
21 Kiara Wright               4  4  4  13  0.000   0  0  0   0   3  1  4   0   0   7.0
   ---Substitutes---
 2 Katie Mosher               4  0  0   0  0.000   4  0  1   0  18  0  0   0   0   0.0
 8 Hailey Luke                4  0  0   0  0.000  21  1  1   0  11  0  0   0   1   1.0
 9 Caroline Dadowski          1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  1   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
13 Laura Dadowski             2  0  0   0  0.000   0  1  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   1.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            4  2  5  12 -0.250   0  0  0   0   0  0  4   0   0   4.0
20 Karlie Hauer               3  6  0  13  0.462   0  0  0   0   2  0  2   0   0   7.0
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        4 57 27 147  0.204  53  5  6   2  64  2 24   0   5  76.0
   Opp                        4 52 25 155  0.174  48  2  7   5  54  1 20   0   3  65.0

Noles Remain Unbeaten.
The No. 6 indoor volleyball team earned its second victory over No. 21 Texas A&M on Saturday.

COLLEGE STATION, TX - The sixth-ranked Florida State indoor volleyball team (11-0) was too tough for No. 21 Texas A&M, winning in straight sets (25-20, 25-16, 25-8) in Reed Arena on Saturday.

“We got stronger as the weekend progressed,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “I’m very proud of the team chemistry and the effort that we showed today.”

As a team the Seminoles heavily outscored the Aggies on defense, passing and scoring throughout the match, amassing 42 digs, 47 assists and 48 kills opposed to Texas A&M’s 32 digs, 27 assists and 28 kills.

“Overall we played better today (than last night),” Poole said. “I still feel that with all the new players we have more we can improve on.”

Following the 3-1 win over the Aggies on Friday, junior outside hitter Nicole Walch registered another double-double, leading the attack with 15 kills while hitting .367 percent. She also added 12 digs.

Outside hitter Katie Horton also had a double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs, while hitting for .400 percent.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom dished 26 assists while sophomore setter Hailey Luke had 17.

Senior redshirt libero Katie Mosher had nine digs and a pair of assists.

Florida State put up nine total team blocks, as junior middle blocker Kiara Wright led the charge with six block assists and one solo stop. Junior outside hitter Karlie Hauer was also big on the block with four assists.

Play in the first picked up right where it left off with intense competition. Following the 18-18 tie, and Aggie attack error and a kill from Horton gave FSU the 20-18 edge forcing Texas A&M to call timeout.

After the break, the Aggies were within one at 21-20, but a kill from Horton ignited a 4-0 scamper to the finish for FSU to take the 1-0 edge, 25-20.

Florida State broke it open midway through the second set after an 8-2 run following the 9-9 tie to go up 17-11. The Seminoles we able to keep their distance with a comfortable lead before closing out the set 25-16 to take the 2-0 lead.

The Seminoles used the momentum from the second to stay hot in the third, defending well while firing on the attack and forcing the Aggies to make mistakes. After the early 2-2 tie, FSU outscored Texas A&M 14-2 for a commanding 16-4 lead before the Aggies burned their final timeout.

Florida State closed out the third limiting the Aggies to eight points, taking the sweep 25-8.

“I was very impressed with our focus during the third set,” Poole said. “Now we have to turn our attention to preparing for ACC play.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               3 13  3  25  0.400   0  1  1   0  10  0  1   0   0  14.5
 5 Nicole Walch               3 15  4  30  0.367   1  3  1   1  12  0  0   0   0  18.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            3  0  0   0  0.000  26  1  0   0   5  0  0   0   0   1.0
12 Sarah Burrington           3  4  2  11  0.182   0  0  0   0   1  0  2   0   0   5.0
20 Karlie Hauer               3  9  1  15  0.533   0  0  0   0   1  0  4   1   0  11.0
21 Kiara Wright               3  5  0   9  0.556   0  0  0   0   0  1  6   1   0   9.0
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               1  0  0   0  0.000   0  1  0   0   1  0  0   0   0   1.0
 2 Katie Mosher               3  0  0   0  0.000   2  0  0   0   9  0  0   0   0   0.0
 7 Milica Kubura              1  0  0   1  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  1   0   0   0.5
 8 Hailey Luke                3  1  0   1  1.000  17  1  0   0   3  0  0   0   0   2.0
13 Laura Dadowski             2  0  0   0  0.000   1  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            2  1  2   6 -0.167   0  0  0   0   0  0  2   1   0   2.0
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        3 48 12  98  0.367  47  7  2   1  42  1 16   3   0  64.0
   Opp                        3 28 16  93  0.129  27  1  1   7  32  1  8   3   1  34.0

Noles Sweep Heels in ACC Opener.
The No. 6 FSU indoor volleyball team defeated No. 12 North Carolina in straight sets on Friday.

TALLAHASSEE, FL – In front of another standing-room only crowd at Tully Gym, the sixth-ranked Florida State (12-0, 1-0) indoor volleyball team defeated No. 12 North Carolina (9-2, 0-1) in straight sets (25-22, 25-22, 32-20) in the highest matchup in ACC history.

The Seminoles extended their conference home match winning streak to 29 following the ACC opener on Friday.

“All three sets were tight and competitive,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “We knew North Carolina wouldn’t give up. They’re a very good team and we knew physically they could match us at the net. It was a matter of who was going to make the plays when they needed to.”

Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch led the attack and posted a double-double with 16 kills and 14 digs.

As a team the Seminoles put up 14 total blocks for the second time this season in a three-set match. The Noles registered eight blocks alone in the third set, including three solo from junior middle blocker Kiara Wright. She also finished the match with three block assists.

In addition to Wright, redshirt sophomore Sarah Burrington had six block assists and one solo stop.

“We’re working a lot on blocking right now,” Poole said. “With so many new hitters, we’re trying to get them all in sync and I would like to see that aspect of our game to continue to get better. But they stepped up at crucial times in that match.”

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom put up a double-double with 24 assists and 10 digs, while sophomore setter Hailey Luke had 11 assists. Luke also scored a pair of setting dumps and sparked several runs on serve.

Redshirt senior Katie Mosher led the defense with 19 digs.

Florida State broke open a six-point lead, 21-15 after the media timeout. North Carolina grabbed the next two points to pull within four 21-17 before junior outside hitter Karlie Hauer swung for a kill from the left side. The Tar Heels would side out, however a pair of kills from Burrington and Walch gave the Noles set point up 24-18.

North Carolina showed fight down the stretch, fending off five set points before Wickstrom set Burrington perfectly for the kill down the middle and the 25-22, 1-0 lead.

In the second, the Seminoles fell into a five-point hole early, however the Noles were back in it after a kill by Hauer and four straight Tar Heel errors, tying the score 19-19 forcing UNC to call a timeout.

After the break, Luke delivered an ace for the first lead of the set at 20-19.

Following a pair of ties at 20 and 21, Florida State took the 22-21 lead after a ball handling error on the Tar Heels, which was forced by a big swing from sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton. Burrington and junior middle blocker Mercedes Vaughn teamed up for a block to tee up set point.

FSU went up 2-0 after taking the 25-22 second set victory on a North Carolina attacking error.

“I’m very proud of our team,” Mosher said. “Especially in the second set, we were down by five points at one time and we never gave up. We never felt like we were going to lose and I think that helps us. We never have a doubt in our minds.”

The Seminoles came out with a commanding 9-4 lead with solid production on the block in the third, before the Tar Heels put together a 5-1 run forcing FSU to call timeout up 10-9. Out of the break, Horton’s attack was just wide knotting the set at 10.

Mosher locked in on defense and fueled a 5-2 run to go up 15-12 before North Carolina earned the side out. FSU kept a short distance from the Tar Heels before a kill from Burrington set up match point up 24-21.

“Those battle plays you can’t really imitate in practice,” Mosher said. “You don’t know how those are going to turn out, you just have to stay in the moment and fight it out and we did that tonight.”

Facing match point, the Tar Heels found a way to side out before the libero Ece Taner helped start of 3-0 scamper on serve to tie it at 24. Coach Poole called timeout to settle his team.

Out of the break, FSU stood tall for a block from Walch before North Carolina evened it once again before pulling ahead for set point. The Noles answered with Walch to tie at 26 but the Heels responded with a kill of its own for the advantage.

Fighting back was Wright with a kill for another tie, but North Carolina pulled ahead for the third time after a kill. On the next play, Mosher sent a pass for Vaughn to put away for another tie, 28-28.

North Carolina refused to quit, finding Leigh Andrew for a kill and the lead, but Walch delivered the kill for another stalemate.

Florida State held match point again up 30-29 after the Heels were called for a blocking error, but a service error from Wickstrom tied it once more 30-30. Feeling the pressure, the North Carolina committed a service error giving the advantage back to the Noles.

With the third match point of the night, the Seminoles battled to keep the ball alive with Walch stretching to put the ball over the net and into an open spot on the floor, lifting the Noles past the Heels, 32-30 for the sweep.

“We were making those big plays throughout the match,” Poole said. “We were making them all the way until the last point. We had a great save to keep it in and it ended up being the winning point for us. Sometimes that’s the difference and when two great teams play each other that could be the difference.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               3  9  4  22  0.227   2  0  0   2   6  1  2   0   0  11.0
 5 Nicole Walch               3 16  5  38  0.289   0  1  2   0  14  0  3   0   0  18.5
10 Sarah Wickstrom            3  0  0   1  0.000  24  0  1   0  10  0  0   0   2   0.0
12 Sarah Burrington           3  8  2  21  0.286   0  0  0   0   0  1  6   0   0  12.0
20 Karlie Hauer               3  5  4  17  0.059   1  0  0   0   0  0  1   0   0   5.5
21 Kiara Wright               3  2  4   9 -0.222   0  0  0   0   1  3  3   0   0   6.5
   ---Substitutes---
 2 Katie Mosher               3  0  0   2  0.000   5  0  1   0  19  0  0   0   0   0.0
 8 Hailey Luke                3  2  0   2  1.000  11  1  0   0   3  0  0   0   0   3.0
13 Laura Dadowski             3  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  1   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            3  4  0  12  0.333   1  0  0   0   0  0  3   0   0   5.5
   Team                                                      2                  
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        3 46 19 124  0.218  44  2  5   4  53  5 18   0   2  62.0
   Opp                        3 44 27 132  0.129  42  4  6   2  53  2  8   3   1  54.0

FSU Claims Best Start in History.
The No. 6 FSU indoor volleyball team is now 13-0 after defeating Notre Dame is straight sets on Sunday for the best start in FSU history.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - The sixth-ranked Florida State indoor volleyball team moved to a record-setting 13-0 (2-0) start after defeating Notre Dame (3-10, 0-2) in straight sets (34-32, 25-22,25-19). The Seminoles topped the streak that began the 1997 season (12-0) after the victory on Sunday in Tully Gym.

It is the fourth season FSU has put together a streak of 10 or more wins under Poole. Poole's top stretch was set in 2009 with an 18-match winning streak that started on Oct. 4 and carried into the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament. Poole's squads in 2011 and 2012 each put together 16 straight wins as well.

"We're trying to teach our team to play at the same level," FSU Head Coach Chris Poole said. "We stared off sluggish, but we did some great things. That's to Notre Dame's credit they played hard and fought back."

Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch put up another double-double leading the attack, registering 13 kills and 10 digs. Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington had eight kills, hitting for .412 percent while leading the blocking front with five assists and one solo stop.

"We always have someone that is relentless for every point," Burrington said. "Even if it changes there is always someone ready to step up. It's the element to our team that helps us win."

Florida State put up nine total team blocks, with sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton helping on four assists and one solo block.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom and sophomore setter Hailey Luke each had 19 assists, while redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher was solid on defense with 20 digs.

In the first, Florida State created some distance early taking a 12-7 before extending the lead to 19-11. Notre Dame responded with a 9-2 run pulling within one at 21-20 before committing back-to-back errors. After an FSU service error, Notre Dame was called for another ball handling violation, teeing up set point for the Seminoles, 24-21.

The Irish would fight off three set points putting together a 3-0 charge to tie 24-24 before claiming set point of their own.

Florida State relied on the hand of Walch down the stretch, who tallied five kills after the stalemate at 24 as the Noles fended off seven Irish set points. Walch put down her eighth kill of the set to lift FSU to the 1-0 edge, 34-32.

Following ties at 4-4, 6-6, 14-14, 15-15 and 17-17, Notre Dame went on a 3-0 scamper to take the 20-17 edge late in the second. Florida State fought back to tie 21-21 before closing on a 4-1 stretch, 25-22 for the 2-0 lead.

"We kept trying to get back in the game mentally," Mosher said. "We could have been better, but we'll take the sweep and move on and work hard in practice this week."

After 11 ties in the third, the Irish took the 14-11 lead before Poole called timeout. Out of the break FSU earned the side out before sparking a 5-0 run with Mosher on serve pulling ahead 16-14. Notre Dame came back to tie 16-16, but freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura entered the game and put down a major kill for the side out. She contributed five kills in the final set.

Wickstrom fueled five straight points on serve, including an ace to extend the lead 21-16. Florida State was able to close out the set with kills from Burrington, junior outside hitter Karlie Hauer and Kubura for the 3-0 sweep, 25-19.

"We've recognized that if we want to go deep into the NCAA Tournament we've got to be more consistent and more efficient," Poole said. "We need to play at the highest level that we can so at the end of the year we're above that level. We won in three sets, but we didn't play as well as we wanted to and we allowed Notre Dame to take us out of our rhythm."

In addition to the 13-0 start, the Seminoles extended their ACC home match winning to streak to 30.

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               3  6  2  16  0.250   0  2  0   1   5  1  4   0   0  11.0
 5 Nicole Walch               3 13  5  37  0.216   0  1  1   3  10  0  0   0   0  14.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            3  0  0   0  0.000  19  2  0   0   3  0  0   0   2   2.0
12 Sarah Burrington           3  8  1  17  0.412   0  1  0   0   1  1  5   0   1  12.5
20 Karlie Hauer               3  6  0  14  0.429   0  0  0   0   2  0  1   1   0   6.5
21 Kiara Wright               3  5  3  11  0.182   0  0  0   0   2  0  2   0   0   6.0
   ---Substitutes---
 2 Katie Mosher               3  0  0   1  0.000   2  0  3   0  20  0  0   0   0   0.0
 7 Milica Kubura              1  5  0   5  1.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   5.0
 8 Hailey Luke                3  0  0   0  0.000  19  0  0   0   5  0  0   0   0   0.0
13 Laura Dadowski             1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            2  2  4  13 -0.154   0  0  0   0   0  0  2   0   0   3.0
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        3 45 15 114  0.263  40  6  4   4  48  2 14   1   3  60.0
   Opp                        3 46 17 117  0.248  42  4  8   6  46  2  4   0   5  54.0

Noles Swarm Jackets, 3-0.
The No. 5 Florida State volleyball team swept Georgia Tech on the road on Friday.

ATLANTA, GA – The fifth-ranked Florida State (14-0, 3-0) indoor volleyball team picked up its fourth-consecutive 3-0 sweep on Friday (25-17, 25-22, 25-18), defeating Georgia Tech (7-9, 0-3) in the O’Keefe Gymnasium, extending its record-setting start.

“We handled the pressure and made the big plays tonight,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “We know that we’re going to get every team’s best game and I am very proud of our team for taking care of business.”

Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch recorded nine kills, while sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton tallied eight. Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington along with junior middle blockers Mercedes Vaughn and Kiara Wright all registered six each.

Florida State was dominant at the net, putting up a total of nine team blocks. Vaughn and Wright each had one solo stop and Burrington was credited with four block assists. Horton contributed four block assists as well and Wright and Vaughn each totaled three.

Both senior setter Sarah Wickstrom and sophomore setter Hailey Luke tallied 15 assists each, while redshirt senior liber Katie Mosher was under eight digs.

In the first, the Seminoles jumped out to an early 11-4 lead following a 6-0 run with Mosher on serve. Georgia Tech kept trying to chip at the lead, however the Seminoles closed out the first 25-17 to take the 1-0 lead.

Florida State fell into a 1-5 hole early in the second following a few mistakes, but would chip away at the lead before tying the set at 13. The Yellow Jackets rallied for the next two points, but FSU fought back with the next three, pulling ahead 16-15 after Vaughn went up for the solo stop.

Georgia Tech tied the match again at 17, but the Noles sparked a 5-0 run to go ahead 22-17. The Jackets refused to quit and responded with a 5 point scamper of their own for another tie at 22-22.

Horton stopped the Jacket charge and put down a kill, before Vaughn and Burrington teamed up for the block. FSU took the 2-0 lead after Luke set up Horton for her fifth kill of the match, putting down the 25-22 second set victory.

In the third, Florida State went up 7-2 early, seeing major production off the block. The Jackets snuck back into the set twice pulling to within two, but Vaughn was there for big kills on the right side putting the Seminoles up 20-16.

FSU closed out the set on a 5-2 charge for the 25-18 set victory.

“We never panicked,” Poole said. “Georgia Tech had a great crowd and we handled the pressure very well.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               3  8  1  19  0.368   0  0  2   1   3  0  4   1   0  10.0
 5 Nicole Walch               3  9  6  25  0.120   0  0  1   1   7  0  0   0   0   9.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            3  0  0   0  0.000  15  0  0   0   2  0  0   0   2   0.0
12 Sarah Burrington           3  6  0  10  0.600   1  2  1   0   1  0  4   0   0  10.0
20 Karlie Hauer               2  0  1   2 -0.500   0  0  0   0   1  0  0   0   0   0.0
21 Kiara Wright               3  6  2   8  0.500   0  0  0   0   0  1  3   2   0   8.5
   ---Substitutes---
 2 Katie Mosher               3  0  0   0  0.000   5  0  0   0   8  0  0   0   0   0.0
 7 Milica Kubura              1  1  1   3  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   1.0
 8 Hailey Luke                3  0  0   0  0.000  15  1  3   0   6  0  0   0   0   1.0
13 Laura Dadowski             1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            3  6  2  11  0.364   0  0  0   0   0  1  3   0   0   8.5
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        3 36 13  78  0.295  36  3  7   2  28  2 14   3   2  48.0
   Opp                        3 31 24  87  0.080  29  2  8   3  22  0  4   4   2  35.0

Mosher Becomes All-Time Digs Leader.
Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher becomes the FSU All-Time Digs leader after lifting the No. 5 Seminoles to a 3-2 win over Miami.

CORAL GABLES, FL – Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher became the All-Time Digs leader after her career high performance of 34 digs that lifted the fifth-ranked Florida State (15-0, 4-0) indoor volleyball team to a five-set, 3-2 (26-28, 25-19, 25-20, 29-27, 15-9) win at Miami (9-6, 2-2).

“Career numbers are so tough for players because of the scoring format changed throughout the years,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “The games are shorter now and I am so proud of Katie for achieving the mark with half of our season still remaining. She is an exceptional leader and an outstanding role model for this program.”

“Breaking the record means I am helping my team succeed,” Mosher said. “It has been a goal of mine to make an impact on this program. I’m honored to have my teammates by my side. It meant the world to have them and my family with me today.”

Florida State jumped out to a 4-1 lead before Miami called timeout in the fifth set. Out of the break, sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton committed a service error after delivering an ace, before the Noles sided out from the hand of junior outside hitter Nicole Walch. Junior middle blocker Kiara Wright helped extend the lead to 6-2 with a big swing down the middle.

Miami responded with a kill from the match leader, Savannah Leaf before the Hurricanes delivered an ace off a floating serve forcing Poole to call timeout up 6-4.

Out of the huddle, Miami was called for a disputable double-contact play, increasing the lead, 7-4.

After a pair of errors, Walch swung for a kill giving FSU the 8-6 lead at the switch. The teams traded kills before Horton put down a shot lifting the Noles to a 10-7 edge.

Feeling the pressure, the Hurricanes committed an attacking error before forcing the Noles to make a mistake. Following another Miami error, freshman Milica Kubura buried a kill off the block before giving FSU the 13-8 advantage. Miami earned the side out, but followed with a service error.

Florida State capped off the fifth set with a block from redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington and Kubura.

“Overall I was pleased with the result,” Poole said. “On a positive note it was great to see us find a way to win in another hostile environment with a great crowd. We will keep working and we’re going to continue to improve.”

Walch led the attack with a double-double, registering 18 kills and 10 digs, while assisting on four blocks. Horton followed with another double-double effort, swinging for 15 kills while setting a new career high for digs with 15.

The Seminoles scored 14 total team blocks, with Walch stopping four on her own while Burrington had four assists and one solo block. Wright had a solo block and four assists while redshirt junior Mercedes Vaughn posted a pair of block assists. She also contributed nine kills and six digs.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom amassed 31 assists and sophomore setter Hailey Luke tallied 25. On top of her passing, Luke was credited with a pair of setter kills.

Mosher also set a new high for assists with nine.

In the first set, the Seminoles jumped out to an early lead up 10-5 before Miami sparked a 7-2 run to tie 12-12. FSU answered with a 7-2 charge of its own to pull ahead 19-14 causing Miami to call timeout.

FSU extended its lead to 22-15, however a pair of Miami points would force Poole to call timeout up 22-17. The break did not tame the Hurricanes as they forced an error before swinging for a pair of kills before Walch stopped the charge with a kill to go up 23-20, but once again, Miami responded with a 3-0 charged to tie 23-23.

Walch set up set point with a kill, but the Seminoles were called for a net violation on the next play, tying it 24-24. The teams traded kills before Vaughn put down a strike from the right side for another set point, but the Noles were called for a ball handling violation knotting the set 26-26.

Miami took its first set point after a kill from Leaf before winning the first set 28-26 after an FSU attacking error.

Freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura entered the match in the second set and gave the Seminoles an immediate spark with four kills on six attempts, helping FSU to an 18-10 lead, but a 7-0 run by the Hurricanes cut the lead to one.

Florida State held off the charge and closed on a 7-2 run for the 25-19, second set victory tying the match 1-1.

In the third, Luke led a barrage on serve to go up 16-6 after a 7-0 run. Miami refused to go away down ten and mustered up a 10-3 stretch, cutting the lead to 20-17. The Seminoles weathered the storm and found Wright, Walch and Vaughn for kills after forcing the Hurricanes to commit errors. FSU took the 2-1 lead with a third set, 25-20 victory.

Mosher took over the record mid-way through the fourth as Florida State looked to put it away, however Miami pulled ahead late to grab set point 24-23. The Seminoles fought off three more set points, before being called for a ball handling error giving Miami the 29-27 fifth set victory.

“It was disappointing to see us give up big leads, but I give credit to Miami for not giving up. We need to do a better job in those situations.”

Florida State grabbed its fifth five-set win of the season, 15-9.

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               5 15  5  41  0.244   0  3  1   1  15  0  1   0   0  18.5
 5 Nicole Walch               5 18  7  50  0.220   1  0  1   4  10  4  0   0   0  22.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            5  0  0   2  0.000  31  1  1   0  10  0  0   0   1   1.0
12 Sarah Burrington           5  7  2  15  0.333   1  1  1   0   3  1  4   0   0  11.0
20 Karlie Hauer               1  1  2   6 -0.167   0  0  0   0   1  0  1   0   1   1.5
21 Kiara Wright               5 10  4  19  0.316   0  0  0   0   0  1  4   0   0  13.0
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   1  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               5  0  0   2  0.000   9  1  1   1  34  0  0   0   0   1.0
 7 Milica Kubura              4 11  3  22  0.364   1  0  0   0   1  0  4   0   0  13.0
 8 Hailey Luke                5  2  0   4  0.500  25  0  0   0   8  0  0   0   2   2.0
13 Laura Dadowski             3  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            5  9  5  25  0.160   0  0  0   0   6  0  2   0   0  10.0
   Team                                                      1                  
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        5 73 28 186  0.242  68  6  5   7  89  6 16   0   4  93.0
   Opp                        5 61 28 191  0.173  57  7  8   6  77  2 22   0   2  81.0

Noles Defeat Cards in Four.
The No. 4 FSU indoor volleyball team defeated Louisville 3-1 to remain undefeated.

LOUISVILLE, KY – The fourth-ranked Florida State (15-0, 5-0) indoor volleyball team remains undefeated after picking up a 3-1(25-21, 24-26, 25-18, 25-22) win over Louisville (10-7, 2-3) at the KFC Yum! Center on Friday.

“Any time you go on the road, you’re going to get the opponent’s best shot,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “Louisville is a very aggressive defensive team and they came out with a game plan. Louisville has a great team and they’re very competitive and we knew this would be a dangerous place to play and it’s good to get out of here with a win.”

Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch led the attack, delivering 22 kills and 12 digs while sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton put up her fourth double-double on the year with 13 kills and 12 digs.

“We just kept fighting for every point,” Walch said. “We have so many players that can step and tonight I just did my best to finish those tough points. We know that we have a target on our backs and everyone is going to give us their best shot and it feels great to go home with a win.”

The Seminoles got major production from their middle blockers with redshirt sophomore Sarah Burrington tallying 12 kills hitting for .429 percent while junior Kiara Wright tied her career high for kills with 11 on top of hitting .450 percent.

“I’m really glad to see Sarah and Kiara step up for us,” Poole said. “They played well in the middle and we were inconsistent in other places and we’re going to continue to work to get better.”

On the block, FSU registered 11 total with Burrington contributing six assists and Wright putting up four. Redshirt freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura teamed up for four while junior Karlie Hauer entered the match in the second set and produced three. Junior Mercedes Vaughn was credited with one solo stop and a pair of assists.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom put up a double-double with 32 assists and 17 digs, while sophomore setter Hailey Luke amassed 24 assists.

Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher was under 22 digs.

In the first, Louisville answered a few 3-0 surges early in the set, however the Seminoles broke it open late with a 5-0 run to grab set point up 24-18. Louisville put the pressure on and forced FSU to make mistakes grabbing the next three points causing Poole to call timeout.

Out of the break, Florida State battled through the rally and set up Walch for the kill from the left side, lifting the Seminoles to the 25-21 victory and 1-0 advantage.

Louisville put together a 5-0 stretch in the second to take the early lead 9-4, forcing Poole to burn a timeout. The Seminoles trailed between three and four points for most of the set before pulling within two down 15-17 before Louisville to called timeout.

After the break, the Cardinals went back up by four after a kill and an error.

Once again, the Seminoles pulled to within a pair, but mistakes extended the Cardinal lead to four.

Burrington delivered a desperate kill for the side out before Walch put one down, causing Louisville to call timeout up 21-19. After the break, FSU went back to Walch for the strike before an attacking error from the Cardinals knotted the set 21-21.

The Seminoles grabbed their first lead of the set from the hand of Walch but the Cardinals ended the 5-0 stretch tying it 22-22. FSU responded with points from Burrington and Walch to take set point.

After a service error, the Cardinals fended off another set point with a kill tying it 24-24. Louisville would take the next two points and the second set 26-24, for the 1-1 match tie.

“We let that set slip away from us,” Poole said. “That’s the dangerous thing about what we’re doing now, we’re not closing out sets and it’s our biggest weakness and we’re working on it every day.”

The Seminoles came out on fire in the third, jumping out to a 6-1 lead. Wickstrom sparked a 6-0 barrage on serve to go up big 16-6. Florida State kept its distance and closed out the third, 25-18 to move ahead 2-1.

Florida State jumped out the lead in the fourth and held it by three until Louisville sparked a 6-1 charge to pull ahead 14-12 forcing Poole to call timeout.

The two teams sided out following the break before FSU took the edge 17-16. But, Louisville answered with a 4-2 rally to pull ahead 20-18 causing Poole to burn his final timeout.

FSU pulled together a pair of points to tie 20-20 before both squads earned the side out for another tie. A net violation on Louisville gave FSU the 22-21 advantage, but the Cardinals answered with a kill.

Florida State pulled ahead 23-22 after Wright slammed a kill off the block before setting up match point following a block by Vaughn and Wright.

The Cardinals called timeout but Walch finished off the long rally and put away the match with a kill to the right corner, 25-23.

“We didn’t play as well as we wanted to,” Poole said. “But I admire the character of this team. They just continue to fight so hard even when they aren’tplaying as well as they want to. We’re still doing a lot of things right but there are some little things that we’re not, but we’re happy to be going homewith a win.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               4 13  6  34  0.206   0  0  1   2  12  0  1   0   0  13.5
 5 Nicole Walch               4 22  9  57  0.228   0  1  2   2  12  0  0   0   0  23.0
 7 Milica Kubura              2  1  3  10 -0.200   0  0  0   0   5  0  4   0   0   3.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            4  0  0   0  0.000  32  1  1   0  17  0  0   1   1   1.0
12 Sarah Burrington           4 12  3  21  0.429   1  1  0   0   4  0  6   0   0  16.0
21 Kiara Wright               4 11  2  20  0.450   0  0  0   0   0  0  4   1   0  13.0
   ---Substitutes---
 2 Katie Mosher               4  0  0   0  0.000   2  0  2   0  22  0  0   0   0   0.0
 8 Hailey Luke                4  0  0   1  0.000  24  1  0   0   4  0  0   0   2   1.0
13 Laura Dadowski             1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  1   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            4  5  2  12  0.250   0  0  0   0   2  1  2   0   0   7.0
20 Karlie Hauer               3  0  2  13 -0.154   2  0  0   0   3  0  3   1   0   1.5
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        4 64 27 168  0.220  61  4  7   4  81  1 20   3   3  79.0
   Opp                        4 46 26 161  0.124  44  4  4   4  69  3 15   3   1  60.5

FSU Sweeps Pack.
The No. 4 FSU indoor volleyball team swept NC State on Sunday in Tully.

TALLAHASSEE, FL – The fourth-ranked Florida State (16-0, 6-0) indoor volleyball team swept NC State (12-5, 1-4) 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-23) on Sunday in FSU’s annual Paint it Pink match in Tully Gym.

“We tend to play very up and down,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “It’s a very dangerous game to play. It’s great we can turn in on when we need to, but it’s dangerous if we can’t turn it back on.”

Leading the attack was junior middle block Kiara Wright with a career high 14 kills while hitting for .524 percent. Wright also registered four block assists, contributing to the team total of nine.

“Kiara is getting better every week,” Poole said. “We love her energy on the court. She’s very fast and athletic and as she gets better it just gives us another weapon to use.”

“Things were going well between the setter and me,” Wright said. “We trust in each other and we’ve worked to get to that point and things were clicking between us today.”

Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington produced nine kills while hitting .629, adding a solo block and four assists.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom tallied 23 assists and three aces, while sophomore setter Hailey Luke amassed 19 assists.

Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher was under 14 digs and two assists.

In the first, the Seminoles got off to a sluggish start falling into a 7-3 hole, however junior outside hitter Nicole Walch sparked a 4-0 surge that was equipped with a pair of aces to tie 7-7.

After the stalemate, Florida State took over the lead and went up 10-8 before NC State went on a 4-0 run to pull ahead 12-10.

The score stayed tight until the Seminoles broke it open following the 19-19 tie, finishing the set on a 6-2 run to take the first, 25-19 and the 1-0 match lead.

Florida State went up 12-8 in the second set after being down by a pair of points early. Luke stayed on the floor and played the full rotation and produced three kills from the right side. The Seminoles dominated and took the 2-0 lead, 25-16.

“What people may or may not know is Hailey was a hitter in club,” Poole said. “It wasn’t a surprise for us and we decided to give her a try. It was great to see her step up there.”

Luke finished the day with four kills on five attempts, while registering two block assists from the right side.

“It was amazing,” Luke said. “I haven’t done that since club and I’m happy that I could contribute to the team and stay on the court.”

In the third, FSU poured it on and lead by as many as nine. NC State fought back after trailing 22-13 and sparked a 10-2 run, fighting through six match points before junior outside hitter Karlie Hauer put it away for the Noles with a kill from the right side completing the sweep, 25-23.

The 17 match winning streak is the second highest under Poole and ties the third best in school history. Poole’s 2009 squad put together a stretch of 19 at the end of the year to advance into the Elite Eight. The victory also extends the ACC home match winning streak to 31, a run that is ongoing since the 2011 season.

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               3  5  2  10  0.300   0  0  2   1   2  0  1   0   1   5.5
 5 Nicole Walch               3  8  3  17  0.294   0  3  0   0   9  0  1   0   0  11.5
10 Sarah Wickstrom            3  0  0   0  0.000  23  3  1   0   2  0  0   0   0   3.0
12 Sarah Burrington           3  9  0  13  0.692   0  0  0   0   2  1  4   0   0  12.0
20 Karlie Hauer               2  1  2   8 -0.125   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   1.0
21 Kiara Wright               3 14  3  21  0.524   0  0  0   0   2  0  4   1   0  16.0
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               2  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   2  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               3  0  0   1  0.000   2  0  1   0  14  0  0   0   0   0.0
 8 Hailey Luke                3  4  0   5  0.800  19  0  0   0   5  0  2   0   1   5.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            3  4  3  13  0.077   0  0  0   0   1  0  4   0   0   6.0
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        3 45 13  88  0.364  44  6  4   1  39  1 16   1   2  60.0
   Opp                        3 38 16  95  0.232  31  1  4   6  23  2 10   2   2  46.0

FSU Seniors Earn 100th Win.
Seniors Sarah Wickstrom and Katie Mosher picked up their 100th career win on Friday.

TALLAHASSEE, FL – Seniors Sarah Wickstrom and Katie Mosher earned their 100th career victory on Friday night, helping the fourth-ranked Florida State (18-0, 6-0) indoor volleyball team to a 3-0 (26-24, 25-21, 25-18) sweep over Florida A&M in Tully Gym.

“They are two outstanding young ladies,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “They started for us on the Final Four team and they are two great captains. They’re great leaders on an off the court. Anytime a class can come in and get 100 wins for their career is great.”

Wickstrom and Mosher become Poole’s fourth-consecutive four-year senior class to net 100 wins. They are the 11th class to achieve the feat in FSU history.

“It’s pretty cool,” Wickstrom said. “A win is a win and for it to be our 100th is really awesome.”

Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch led the attack with 12 kills, hitting for .348 percent while sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton registered 10 kills and six digs.

Junior middle blocker Kiara Wright contributed one solo block and three assists to Florida State’s team total of seven. Wright also added eight kills, while redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington swung for eight, hitting .583 percent on top of two block assists. Walch contributed a solo stop and two assists.

Sophomore setter Hailey Luke tallied 20 assists while Wickstrom amassed 17. Mosher was under five digs.

“Florida A&M has played some very good teams,” Poole said. “They always play a tough preseason schedule and they know what good volleyball is like and they played hard. They have a lot of international players and we knew they were going to battle us.”

The first set saw seven ties before the Seminoles went on a 3-0 charge with Wickstrom on serve to go up 17-14 before Florida A&M called timeout. Off the break, the Rattlers sided out with a kill and pulled within one after an attacking error, but Burrington swung for a kill to go up 18-16.

Florida State pulled ahead with kills from Burrington and Wright before Poole burned his final timeout up 23-20.

The Seminoles set up set point, but Florida A&M went on a 3-0 rally, dodging three set points to tie 24-24. FSU buckled down and set up Horton for the kill before Burrington and Hauer put up a block to give FSU the 1-0 edge, 26-24.

After the 10-10 stalemate in the second, the Seminoles went on a 9-4 run with production from Horton, Walch, Wright and Hauer causing Florida A&M to call a timeout.

The Rattlers earned the side out, but Wright put a shot away to go up 20-15. After the kill, Florida A&M rallied for a 4-1 stretch to pull within a pair 22-20 forcing Poole to call timeout.

Out of the break, FSU set Burrington for a kill down the middle before Walch tucked one away giving the Noles set point up 24-20. FAMU earned the side out, but Walch put a strike away giving the Seminoles the second set victory 25-21 and 2-0 lead.

In the third, Florida State Luke sparked a 5-0 run early to put the Noles up 14-9. The Seminoles poured it on and closed out the third for the sweep, 24-18.

“It was a good atmosphere,” Mosher said. “Give credit to FAMU, they came out strong and it was a good match.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               3 10  5  18  0.278   0  0  1   0   6  0  1   0   0  10.5
 5 Nicole Walch               3 12  4  23  0.348   0  0  1   1   6  1  2   0   0  14.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            3  0  0   0  0.000  17  0  1   0   4  0  0   0   0   0.0
12 Sarah Burrington           3  8  1  12  0.583   0  0  0   0   0  0  2   0   0   9.0
20 Karlie Hauer               3  5  0  12  0.417   0  0  0   0   1  0  1   1   0   5.5
21 Kiara Wright               3  8  4  16  0.250   0  0  0   0   0  1  3   1   0  10.5
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               3  0  0   0  0.000   5  0  0   1   5  0  0   0   0   0.0
 7 Milica Kubura              1  0  2   3 -0.667   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
 8 Hailey Luke                3  0  0   1  0.000  20  0  1   0   6  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            3  3  1   6  0.333   0  0  0   0   1  0  1   0   0   3.5
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        3 46 17  91  0.319  42  0  4   2  29  2 10   2   0  53.0
   Opp                        3 39 19  95  0.211  37  2 10   0  22  1  6   1   0  45.0

Noles Extend Streak to 19.
The No. 4 FSU indoor volleyball team defeated Virginia Tech 3-1 to remain unbeaten.

TALLAHASSEE, FL – The fourth-ranked Florida State (19-0, 7-0) indoor volleyball team extended its winning streak on Sunday as it defeated Virginia Tech (8-12, 1-6) 3-1 (25-22, 25-27, 21-25, 25-23) in Tully Gym.

“We’re not always pretty with what we’re doing but we’re finding a way to win,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “We still have some little things we need to work on. We’re lucky that we’ve got the balance that we do. We had some players that had off games and we had some that stepped up and played well and it does help.”

The Seminoles were big at the net, putting up a total of 14 blocks. Redshirt sophomore Sarah Burrington led the team with two solo stops and seven block assists. Burrington was efficient on the attack, adding nine kills while hitting for .533 percent.

Both junior middle blocker Kiara Wright and freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura added a solo block and three block assists each. Wright put down seven kills, while Kubura had six.

On the attack, junior outside hitter Nicole Walch contributed 10 kills while sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton had eight. Horton was big on defense adding 11 digs.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom tallied 22 assists while sophomore setter Hailey Luke had 16. Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher was under 12 digs.

“There were a lot of points that carried momentum for each side,” Burrington said. “Each team gave a really good fight and we were able to come out in the end. Every team is giving up their best game and we want that. We want to get better and get ready for the post season.”

The Seminoles jumped out to a blazing 8-1 start in the first set behind hefty kills from redshirt junior middle blocker Mercedes Vaughn, Walch and Wright. Up 13-7, FSU surrendered a 7-3 charge to Virginia Tech forcing Poole to call timeout after the Seminoles committed a stretch of errors leading 16-14.

Out of the break, Virginia Tech sent a service error long before capturing the next two points by ways of a kill and an error to pull within one, 17-16.

The Hokies were behind by one three more times, but the hand of Horton broke it open and put down the final two points giving the Seminoles the first set victory, 25-22 and 1-0 match edge.

In the second, the set was tight before a big 6-1 rush put Florida State up 16-9.

Virginia Tech answered with a 6-0 run of its own before Horton stopped the streak with a shot from the left side, putting the Noles up by a pair before Kubura rejected a shot for the 18-15 lead.

After the Hokies sided out, Florida State stepped it up closing on a 7-2 barrage with kills from Walch and Wright. Wright and Kubura put up a block before Luke’s service ace sealed the second, 25-17 for the 2-0 advantage.

In the third, the Seminoles fell behind and played down by three points both early and in the middle of the set. Florida State tied it 16-16 after a pair of Hokie errors and a kill by Kubura from the right side.

FSU took over the lead 18-17 after Burrington went up for the solo stop, but the Hokies answered with a kill before the Noles were called for a bad set. Poole called timeout down one, 18-19.

Out of the break the Hokies committed their eighth service error of the set for another tie, 19-19. Virginia Tech pulled ahead 22-19 after a pair of FSU errors and a service ace.

The teams traded side outs twice before the Hokies teed up set point up 24-21. Virginia Tech grabbed the second set 25-21 after a block, cutting the FSU match lead, 2-1.

“We play like we’re on a roller coaster,” Horton said. “We tried to limit their runs and in the first set we did a good job but in the third set we fell back into that way again and we’ll work on that.”

In the fourth, Florida State fired from all angles of the court early to go up 5-1 before the Hokies called timeout. The Seminoles extended their lead 7-1, before the Hokies answered with an 8-2 stretch to tie 9-9 causing Poole to call timeout.

Out of the break, Virginia Tech pulled ahead 11-9 before being called for a pair of errors for the 11-11 tie. Following another stalemate at 12, Virginia Tech went up by three, 16-13. On the next play, Wickstrom set Burrington for a kill down the middle before Kubura and Wright tucked strikes home for the 16-16 tie.

Florida State took back the lead 17-16 after the Hokies failed to get the ball over in three tries forcing Virginia Tech to timeout. Wright and Kubura teamed up for the block to go up by a pair, 18-16 but down the stretch the set saw four more ties.

Down by one, Burrington was called upon for back-to-back kills in order to reclaim the lead 23-22.

Florida State grabbed its first match point after Wickstrom delivered an ace up 24-22. The Hokies fought it off and earned the side out with a kill.

On the next play, Wickstrom found Burrington on the sweep for the cross-court kill giving the Seminoles the 25-23 fourth set and 3-1 match victory.

The Seminoles have won 19 straight matches, tying the best winning streak under Coach Poole. The 2009 squad put rode a 19-match winning streak to the Elite Eight. FSU also extended its ACC home match winning streak to 33 matches – a run that was started in the 2011 season.

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               4  8  5  26  0.115   0  0  0   0  11  0  1   1   0   8.5
 5 Nicole Walch               4 10  9  35  0.029   0  0  2   3   3  0  2   0   0  11.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            4  0  0   0  0.000  22  1  2   0   5  0  0   0   1   1.0
12 Sarah Burrington           4  9  1  15  0.533   0  1  1   0   4  2  7   1   0  15.5
20 Karlie Hauer               1  0  1   2 -0.500   0  0  0   0   0  0  1   0   0   0.5
21 Kiara Wright               4  7  4  14  0.214   0  0  0   0   3  1  3   0   1   9.5
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   1  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               4  0  0   2  0.000   1  0  0   0  12  0  0   0   0   0.0
 7 Milica Kubura              3  6  2  13  0.308   0  0  0   0   1  1  3   2   0   8.5
 8 Hailey Luke                4  0  0   0  0.000  16  1  1   0   5  0  0   0   0   1.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            4  3  2  15  0.067   0  0  0   0   1  0  3   0   0   4.5
   Team                                                      1                  
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        4 43 24 122  0.156  39  3  6   4  46  4 20   4   2  60.0
   Opp                        4 47 30 132  0.129  45  4 17   3  47  3  8   0   2  58.0

FSU Storms Back to Win.
Down 2-0, the No. 4 FSU indoor volleyball team battled back to overcome Pitt on the road in five sets.

PITTSBURGH, PA – In front of a record-setting crowd at the Fitzgerald Field House and facing a feat that has not been conquered this season, the fourth-ranked Florida State indoor volleyball team (20-0, 8-0) erased a 2-0 deficit and stormed back to defeat Pittsburgh (17-3, 5-2) 3-2 (24-26, 18-25, 25-17, 25-19, 15-11) on Friday night.

“We showed a lot of character,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “We fought through adversity on the road in front of a great crowd. It was a lot of fun in the end, but the girls really turned it around and played the way they’re capable of instead of laying down and giving it away.”

In the fifth, Pitt jumped out to the lead, forcing the Seminoles to side out before the panthers went up by a pair 6-4 causing Coach Poole to call timeout.

Out of break, the Seminoles grabbed the next two points with a kill from sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton that followed an attack error to tie before the Panthers sided out to take back the edge 7-6.

Freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura slammed home a kill before teaming up with junior outside hitter Nicole Walch for the block to go up 8-7 at the net switch.

At the switch, Walch fired one to the back corner for the 9-7 lead that would send Pitt into a timeout.

Following the break, Pitt earned the side out but Kubura fired a kill. Poole then went to the bench and subbed in freshman defensive specialist Cecilie Woie to serve.

The Panthers could not handle the delivery from Woie, setting up Walch for the easy kill and 11-8 lead and Pitt would called its final timeout.

After the break, the Panthers grabbed the next two points before Walch put one away for the side out up 12-10, but the Panthers fought back with a kill.

Following the side out Pitt was called for a bad set before junior middle blocker Kiara Wright stretched for a solo block, setting up match point, 14-11.

The Seminoles captured their sixth, fifth-set win of 2014, 15-11, 3-2 after Wright put away a shot from the middle.

Walch led the Seminole attack with 24 kills, hitting for .400 percent while Kubura produced nine.

“We just didn’t want to give up,” Walch said. “We were calm and we knew what we needed to do and I just made sure to do my part. It was a total team effort and I am proud we were able to steal the win.”

The Seminoles put up a season high of 23 total team blocks, with Wright and redshirt sophomore Sarah Burrington leading the charge. Wright posted two solo stops and 10 assists, while Burrington registered ten assists and a solo stop. Redshirt junior middle blocker Mercedes Vaughn had eight block assists.

“We talked about the blocking this week,” Poole said. “We knew it was going to be key for us to beat this team. As the match went on we got better and better on the block. We had several players step up big both blocking and attacking.”

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom tallied 26 assists while sophomore setter Hailey Luke produced 21 and two aces.

Redshirt senior libero Katie Moshe was under 15 digs.

The Seminoles took over the lead in the first after a 5-0 stretch with Luke on serve, 16-13. During the run Wright was a monster at the net, putting up three blocks.

Following the stretch, Pitt went on an 8-3 run to take back the lead 21-19. The Seminoles grabbed the next two points by ways of an error and a Walch kill to tie at 21. The teams traded side outs twice for another stalemate at 23.

Pitt took the first set point, before Walch put a shot away to tie 24-24.

The Panthers would take the first 26-24 after a kill and a block, putting the Seminoles in a 1-0 hole.

In the second Pitt kept the momentum and went up 12-5 causing Florida State to burn both of its timeouts.

The Seminoles chipped away at the lead and pulled within three, but could not overcome the deficit, falling 25-18.

In the third, the Seminoles bust open a 15-10 lead thanks to a 6-2 charge forcing Pitt to burn two timeouts.

Following the break, Florida State found its rhythm stretching the advantage to 23-14 before Vaughn went up for the solo stop giving the Seminoles their first set point. Pitt shook off a pair before committing a service error, giving the Noles the third, 25-17.

“Pitt was a great team,” Poole said. “They came out with a plan and they executed very well. It was a matter of us raising our level up and we talked about how we were down 2-0 was irrelevant and we needed to come back and play and I thought that third set we came out and set that tone.”

Cutting the Panther lead, 2-1, the Seminoles jumped in front in the fourth 9-5. Pitt chipped at the lead with a 9-5 swing, tying the set 14-14 forcing Poole to call timeout.

Out of the break, the Seminoles recharged an rallied the next three points by ways of a kill from Horton before she teamed up with Burrington for a block, which was followed by an error from the Panthers, forcing them to burn their final timeout.

With the 17-14 lead, the Seminoles extended the advantage to 19-14 with Wickstrom on serve before the Panthers sided out.

Pitt would take the next three points cutting the FSU lead 19-17 causing Coach Poole to call his final timeout.

Out of the break, the Panthers extended the run tying it at 19 before Walch sent a shot off the dig and into the stands for the 20-19 lead.

Poole subbed in the Pittsburgh, Pa. native Laura Dadowski, who led the Seminoles to finish the fourth set, 25-19 tying the match 2-2.

“These are the matches we needed to stay sharp,” Poole said. “We needed to battle adversity and fight through it and to do that on the road is even sweeter. They showed a tremendous amount of character, we’ve used that word a lot this year because it really does show when we’re struggling and how we come back and never give up.”

Florida State delivered a 15-11, fifth set win.

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               5  9  4  31  0.161   0  0  2   1   8  0  5   0   0  11.5
 5 Nicole Walch               5 24  6  45  0.400   0  1  3   1   7  0  3   1   1  26.5
 7 Milica Kubura              5  9  2  18  0.389   0  0  0   0   1  0  4   0   0  11.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            5  0  0   0  0.000  26  0  0   0   9  0  0   0   2   0.0
12 Sarah Burrington           5  5  2  20  0.150   0  0  0   0   1  1 10   3   0  11.0
21 Kiara Wright               5  6  1   9  0.556   0  0  0   0   0  2 10   0   0  13.0
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               5  0  0   1  0.000   6  0  1   2  15  0  0   0   0   0.0
 8 Hailey Luke                5  0  0   2  0.000  20  2  0   0   4  0  0   0   0   2.0
13 Laura Dadowski             2  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            5  2  3  14 -0.071   0  0  0   0   2  0  8   1   0   6.0
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        5 55 18 140  0.264  52  3  6   4  47  3 40   5   3  81.0
   Opp                        5 65 38 173  0.156  63  4  5   3  61  4 10   1   4  78.0

FSU Ties Longest Streak in History.
The No. 4 FSU indoor volleyball team picked up a 3-1 win at Wake Forest stretching its winning streak to 21-straight tying the school record.

WINSTON-SALEM, NC - The fourth-ranked Florida State (21-0, 9-0) indoor volleyball team defeated Wake Forest (12-11, 2-7) 3-1 (25-17, 18-25, 25-11, 25-22) on Sunday in Reynolds Gym.

The Seminoles continue ride a record-setting start to the season, stretching to 21-0, which is a winning streak that ties the best in school history that was set in 1981 from Oct 9-Oct 30.

“It’s a win,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “The girls are continuing to battle. We still aren’t playing as well as we would like, but we’re still winning the big points and those are making the difference in the matches.”

Redshirt junior middle blocker Mercedes Vaughn led the attack with a season high of 13 kills, hitting for .385 percent adding six block assists. Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch had 11 kills and added one solo block and one block assist.

“Mercedes had one of her better matches this year,” Poole said. “She’s so dynamic and athletic and there are so many things she can do. She hasn’t played the right side before so she’s still learning and getting better every week and that’s encouraging.”

The Seminoles registered a team total of 15 blocks with redshirt sophomore Sarah Burrington and junior middle blocker Kiara Wright each producing one solo block and six assists. Wright added eight kills while Burrinton tallied seven.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom amassed 22 assists and accounted for three aces, while sophomore setter Hailey Luke produced a double-double with 20 assists and 12 digs. Redshirt senior Katie Mosher was under 13 digs and an ace.

After the ninth tie in the first set, Wright teamed up on back-to-back blocks to give the Seminoles the 15-13 lead, forcing Wake Forest to call timeout.

Out of the break, FSU poured on three more points with two kills and an attack error to move ahead 18-13, causing The Deacons to burn another timeout.

Wake Forest ended the 5-0 stretch with a kill and capitalized on an FSU error, but the Seminoles responded with another 4-0 scamper to go up 22-15. The Deacons were awarded the next two points off FSU errors and Poole decided to use his final time out up 22-17.

Out of the timeout, Wright teamed up with Walch for her fourth block of the set before Wake Forest committed an error setting up set point for the Seminoles.

Walch delivered an ace to cap off the first 25-17 for the 1-0 lead.

Wake Forest jumped out to an 11-7 lead in the second and held the four-point advantage before stretching it to five after an ace up 15-10.

Freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura swung for the side out before The Demon Deacons committed an error, but Wake Forest extended the lead back to five 17-12 after a kill and an ace that hit the net and dropped just on the FSU side. Poole would call his final timeout of the set.

Out of the break, the Deacons continued to answer, but after back-to-back strikes from Vaughn, the Seminoles cut the lead to 19-15, forcing Wake Forest to call a timeout.

Although Florida State sided out with a block, Wake Forest was able to close out the set 25-18 to tie the match, 1-1.

“We dropped out hitting percentage in that second set,” Poole said. “We didn’t play consistently in that set and that’s not the first time that’s happened. It’s unfortunate but those are the things we will work on. In the three sets we won we held them to just 50 points and that is something we’re capable of doing every time.”

The Seminoles powered to a 10-3 lead in the third behind three kills from Walch before she fueled a 5-0 run on serve. Florida State stretched its lead to 10 after Walch went up for a solo block up 17-7.

Florida State outscored Wake Forest 8-4 down the stretch as a block from Kubura and Burrington closed out the third 25-11 for the 2-1 advantage.

In the fourth, Florida State fell behind 11-7 before Poole called timeout.

Out of the break, the Seminoles fought back to tie the set at 12, 14 and 15 before Burrington stretched for a block giving the Seminoles the 16-15 lead forcing Wake Forest to call a timeout.

Horton swung for a monster kill for the 17-15 lead, but Wake Forest came back for another stalemate. Florida State pulled ahead after an attacking error and a kill from Kubura for a two-point cushion, 19-17 causing Wake Forest to burn its final timeout.

After, Horton placed a drop shot back to the back corner for the 20-17 lead, but the Deacons sided out before failing to convert on a long rally. FSU stretched its lead to 22-18 before Wake Forest triggered back-to-back points causing Poole to call timeout.

Following the talk, Walch slammed a kill off the block for the 23-20 edge, but a service error cut the lead to two.

On the next play, the Wickstom set Wright for a perfect kill for match point, 24-21 but Wake Forest fended it off with a kill.

Walch would end the match with a kill from the left side giving the Seminoles the 25-22 fourth set and 3-1 victory.

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               4  6  4  16  0.125   0  0  2   1  11  0  1   0   0   6.5
 5 Nicole Walch               4 11  6  30  0.167   0  1  0   1   3  1  1   0   0  13.5
 7 Milica Kubura              4  8  3  17  0.294   0  0  0   0   2  0  4   0   0  10.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            4  0  0   1  0.000  22  3  1   0   7  0  0   0   0   3.0
12 Sarah Burrington           4  7  0  15  0.467   1  1  1   0   3  1  6   3   0  12.0
21 Kiara Wright               4  8  4  15  0.267   0  0  0   1   1  1  6   0   0  12.0
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               3  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  1   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               4  0  0   1  0.000   6  1  1   0  13  0  0   0   1   1.0
 8 Hailey Luke                4  0  0   0  0.000  20  0  0   0  12  0  0   0   0   0.0
13 Laura Dadowski             1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            4 13  3  26  0.385   0  0  0   0   2  0  6   3   0  16.0
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        4 53 20 121  0.273  49  6  6   3  54  3 24   6   1  74.0
   Opp                        4 45 26 135  0.141  38  3  4   6  44  1 14   5   0  56.0

22 Straight Wins!
The No. 3 FSU indoor volleyball team defeated NC State to remain undefeated on the year at 22-0.

RALEIGH, NC - The third-ranked Florida State (22-0, 10-0) indoor volleyball team accomplished another milestone on Friday night, registering the longest winning streak in school history after defeating NC State (13-9, 2-8) 3-1 (18-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-17).

The undefeated Seminoles topped the 21-0 stretch that was set in the month of October back in 1981 when teams played 50 or more matches in a single season.

“I think we have a lot in common with our football team this year,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “Both teams have a lot of heart and know how to win when the game or match is on the line.”

Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch posted her eighth double-double of the season with 15 kills and 11 digs while adding a solo block. Sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton also tallied 15 kills for .370 percent.

The Seminoles registered 11 total blocks on the night with redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington accounting for seven assists and one solo stop. Junior middle blocker Kiara Wright registered a solo block and two assists but was potent on the attack with 11 kills hitting for .625 percent.

“We had some players step up tonight,” Poole said. “Kiara had a wonderful night offensively and we continued to work hard throughout the match.”

Sophomore setter Hailey Luke took on more duties and amassed a career high 43 assists, while redshirt sophomore setter Karyn Israel made her debut, coming through with three assists and four digs.

“Hailey took on the responsibility of running the show and I’m very proud of the way she kept her cool when we were struggling,” Poole said. “She made some great plays.”

In addition to Israel, Florida State looked to its bench with freshman defensive specialist Cecilie Woie seeing more playing time along with junior Laura Dadowski.

“It took a set for us to settle into our line up,” Poole said. “Karyn and Cecilie had their first significant amounts of playing time and both ladies stepped up and contributed to the win.”

Redshirt senior Katie Mosher was under 13 digs and accounted for an ace.

In the first, the Seminoles fell behind 12-4 forcing Poole to burn both timeouts during the stretch. Out of the break, the Seminoles began to chip at the lead, outscoring the Wolfpack 11-5 in order to pull within two as NC State would call a timeout.

Walch jumped for a solo block leaving the Noles down one, but the Wolfpack put together a 6-0 surge to go up 23-16. The Seminoles sided out after NC State made an error and Wright took advantage and dropped a shot to the back corner, however it was too late as the Wolfpack closed out the first 25-18 for the 1-0 lead.

The Seminoles came out swinging in the second and held a four-point cushion before extending the lead to 16-10 as NC State used its final timeout.

Off the break, freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura put down a shot for the 17-10 lead but NC State responded with a 5-2 rally, cutting the FSU lead to 19-15.

The Seminoles answered with a 3-0 scamper of their own with Mosher delivering an ace before Walch put down a kill. That play was followed by a block from Burrington and Kubura before a ball handing error on the Noles gave the ball back to the Wolfpack up 22-16.

After another point from NC State, Poole used his final timeout to settle the team up 22-17.

Horton registered back-to-back kills teeing up set point for FSU. On the final rally of the set, Israel was able to keep the ball up with a pancake before the Noles played it over. NC State was caught off guard by Israel’s save and was unable to reload, giving FSU the set 25-17, knotting the match 1-1.

In the third, the Seminoles fell into a four-point hole at 7-3 before Poole called timeout.

After, Florida State mustered a 6-1 barrage to take the 9-8 lead. The Seminoles looked to break open the set, leading by a pair three times, but after the 16-16 stalemate, NC State took the advantage 17-16.

The Seminoles went to the go-to hand of Walch for the 17-17 tie before she dished an ace for the lead. NC State was charged with an attacking error resulting in a timeout with FSU on top 19-17.

Florida State turned it up and produced three consecutive kills from Horton and two off the hand of Kubura out of the timeout for the 22-17 edge, forcing the Wolfpack to burn their final timeout.

The Wolfpack earned the side out with a kill, but gave it right back to the Noles with a service error, however Horton could not convert and committed an error of her own. She would make it up with a kill for set point up 24-19.

Burrington stayed at home and went up for the solo stop to give the Seminoles the 2-1, 25-19 third set victory.

Coming out with urgency, the Seminoles went off firing in the fourth and put up a 10-5 lead with a lot of production from Wright. NC State would call time and out of the break would string together the next two points forcing the Seminoles to call one of their own up 10-7.

The Seminoles extended their lead to five (17-12) after outscoring the Wolfpack 7-5 in the middle of the set and would result in a timeout by NC State.

Off the break, Florida State played its game and took it to the Wolfpack going up 22-14. NC State answered with back-to-back points and Poole decided to call his final timeout.

NC State committed back-to-back errors, setting up match point for the Noles up 24-16. The Wolfpack would side out, but then was called for a net violation to end the match, 25-17 giving the Seminoles the 3-1 victory.

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               4 15  5  27  0.370   1  0  1   1   5  0  2   1   0  16.0
 5 Nicole Walch               4 15  7  37  0.216   1  1  0   4  11  1  1   0   0  17.5
 8 Hailey Luke                4  1  1   6  0.000  43  0  0   0   6  0  3   0   2   2.5
12 Sarah Burrington           4  4  1  11  0.273   0  0  0   0   0  1  6   1   0   8.0
21 Kiara Wright               4 11  1  16  0.625   0  0  0   0   0  1  2   2   0  13.0
22 Karyn Israel               2  0  0   0  0.000   3  0  0   0   4  0  0   0   0   0.0
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               3  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               4  0  0   0  0.000   1  1  0   0  13  0  0   0   1   1.0
 7 Milica Kubura              4  6  3  14  0.214   0  0  0   0   1  0  2   0   0   7.0
13 Laura Dadowski             4  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  1   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            1  2  2   6  0.000   0  0  0   0   1  0  0   0   0   2.0
   Team                                                      1                  
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        4 54 20 117  0.291  49  2  2   6  41  3 16   4   3  67.0
   Opp                        4 46 25 124  0.169  42  6  6   2  37  2 18   4   5  63.0

FSU Outlasts Clemson
The No. 3 FSU indoor volleyball team picked up its 23rd consecutive victory on Sunday by surviving in five stes at Clemson.

CLEMSON, SC - The third-ranked Florida State (23-0, 11-0) indoor volleyball team fought back to outlast Clemson (16-9, 4-7) in five sets (22-25, 25-22, 21-25, 25-18, 15-12) to remain unbeaten.

“We feel very blessed to be undefeated,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “Today, we had a lot of good individual performances, but we need to play more consistent.”

In their seventh five-set this season, the Seminoles jumped in front after junior middle blocker Kiara Wright put away a shot for the 7-4 lead causing the Tigers to call timeout.

Off the break, Clemson earned the side out but Wright delivered another kill to give FSU the 8-5 lead at the switch.

Sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton put away a shot before she teamed up with redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington for a block and the 10-6 lead, forcing the Tigers to use their final timeout.

Clemson responded with back-to-back kills, cutting the lead to two before Poole used a timeout up 10-8.

The Seminoles answered with kills from Burrington and Walch before the Tigers got the ball back after a kill. Florida State would use its final timeout up 12-10 after Clemson delivered an ace.

FSU went to freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura for the kill and a three-point edge before Clemson sided out with a kill, but senior setter Sarah Wickstrom connected with Wright to set up match point, 14-11.

Clemson fought it off but junior outside hitter Nicole Walch was too tough and put away a shot for the 15-12, fifth set victory.

Walch finished the match with her 12th double-double of the year, setting a new career high for kills at 25, hitting for .392 while contributing 18 digs. In addition, Walch added five aces, which is another career best.

Redshirt junior Mercedes Vaughn also had a career day with 15 kills for .345 percent, adding three blocks.

Kubura added 11 kills to the offense, hitting for .364 percent.

The Seminoles tallied nine total blocks with Wright leading with five block assists and one solo stop.

Wickstrom returned to the lineup and produced 32 assists while sophomore setter Hailey Luke registered her fifth double-double with 31 assists and 14 digs.

Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher was under 19 digs.

“We had some great individual performances today,” Poole said. “But we weren’t as good on defense and with our blocking. Clemson played great and we have to remember that everyone we play has nothing to lose.”

After 12 ties in the first set, Vaughn put away a shot from Luke before Walch delivered an ace for the 17-15 advantage and Clemson decided to call its first timeout.

Vaughn swatted two more kills helping the Seminoles side out each time before Horton put down a shot for the 20-17 lead forcing the Tigers into another timeout.

Off the break, the Tigers put up a quick 4-1 rally to tie the set 21-21 causing Poole to burn his final timeout.

Clemson kept up the streak adding three more points for set point 24-21. Burrington and Wright fended it off with a block but the Tigers put down a kill to take the first set, 25-22 leaving the Seminoles behind 0-1 for the ninth time in 2014.

In the second, the Seminoles got out to a 10-4 lead with Walch on serve who produced three aces over the 6-0 run.

Florida State held a five-point lead, but a 4-0 rally from the Tigers cut the lead to 13-12 and Poole would use his first timeout.

The teams would trade side outs off the break before Clemson tied it at 14 with a kill. The Tigers would take a two-point advantage after the 16-16 stalemate and again, Poole would call timeout.

FSU quickly erased the deficit with three straight kills from Walch, Vaughn and Horton for the 19-18 lead, forcing Clemson to use its final timeout.

Following the break, Walch put down a kill that sparked a 5-1 run to capture set point, however Clemson answered with a 3-0 stretch cutting the lead 24-22. The Seminoles put away the second set after Luke set Horton for the kill and 25-22 victory and 1-1 tie.

Clemson jumped out to a five point lead in the third, however the Seminoles forced the Tigers to make several errors pulling within one 11-10. Clemson ended the 5-0 run with a kill, but FSU would take over the 13-12 lead after kills from Wright and Vaughn on top of a ball handing error called on the Tigers.

The score would be tied at 14 and 15 before the Tigers moved ahead after an ace forcing Poole to call timeout.

Off the break, the teams traded side outs before the Tigers went up by two 19-17 after a block, but Kubura slammed a kill before Walch put down back-to-back chances for the 20-19 lead. Clemson used its final timeout.

After, Clemson sparked a 5-0 run for set point at 24-20. The Seminoles fought one off with a kill from Walch but the Tigers were able to side out and take the third 25-21, leaving the Seminoles behind 2-1.

In the fourth, the Seminoles broke open a three-point advantage early up 9-6 before the Tigers called timeout. FSU extended its lead to six outscoring Clemson 8-5, 17-11 after Walch delivered her fifth ace of the match and the Tigers would use their final timeout.

Both teams traded errors and Clemson put away a shot and Poole would use a timeout up 18-13.

The Seminoles kept their distance and closed out the fourth 25-18, forcing a fifth set.

Florida State hung on to defeat Clemson, 3-2 following a 15-12 fifth set win.

“We are struggling at times,” Poole said. “We still need to get better and reduce our unforced errors. We are pushing to make that improvement and we’ll get back to it in practice this week.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               5  9  7  33  0.061   1  0  1   0   9  0  2   0   0  10.0
 5 Nicole Walch               5 25  5  51  0.392   1  5  1   3  18  0  0   1   0  30.0
 7 Milica Kubura              5 11  3  22  0.364   0  0  0   0   1  0  3   0   0  12.5
10 Sarah Wickstrom            5  0  1   1 -1.000  32  1  0   0   5  0  0   0   1   1.0
12 Sarah Burrington           5  4  1   8  0.375   0  0  2   0   3  0  3   0   0   5.5
21 Kiara Wright               5  8  3  15  0.333   0  0  0   0   3  1  5   0   0  11.5
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  1   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               5  0  1   1 -1.000   8  0  0   0  19  0  0   0   0   0.0
 8 Hailey Luke                5  1  1   3  0.000  31  0  0   0  14  0  0   0   0   1.0
13 Laura Dadowski             3  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  2   0   1  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            5 15  5  29  0.345   0  0  0   0   2  0  3   1   0  16.5
   Team                                                      1                  
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        5 73 27 163  0.282  73  6  7   4  75  1 16   2   1  88.0
   Opp                        5 63 19 168  0.262  59  4  9   6  57  3 14   0   1  77.0

FSU Holds off Virginia.
The No. 3 FSU indoor volleyball team held on to defeat Virginia, 3-1 on Friday night.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - In front of a full house filled with program-changing alumni, the third-ranked Florida State indoor volleyball team (24-0, 12-0) outlasted Virginia (15-10, 8-4), 3-1 (25-17, 25-15, 20-25) on Friday night.

“We always enjoy playing in front of our fans,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “The main thing was we came out strong in the first two sets and played very well. I was a little disappointed with the third set, but again this team shows a lot of character by the way they step back up when they do let down.”

Freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura led the attack for the Seminoles, amassing 13 kills hitting for .632 percent.

“We couldn’t wait to play at home,” Kubura said. “We get energy from this crowd and it was amazing.”

Junior Nicole Walch put up her third-straight double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs, while sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton produced 10 kills.

The Seminoles tallied 12 total team blocks, with redshirt sophomore Sarah Burrington leading the way with nine block assists and one solo stop. Horton had her best blocking performance of the season, contributing seven assists.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom tallied 25 assists and an ace while sophomore setter Hailey Luke put up 17 assists on top of an ace.

Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher was under 21 digs.

The Seminoles were firing early in the first, jumping out to an 8-2 lead – a run that was equipped with three aces including back-to-back strikes from Horton, before Virginia called a timeout.

The Cavaliers settled in and put up a 3-1 stretch, cutting the lead to 9-5. With a jump-server on serve, Poole called a timeout to arrange the defense after mishandling her first try.

Out of the break, FSU sided out and eventually extended the lead to seven, 17-10 before the Cavaliers used their final timeout.

Once again, the Cavaliers put up a 3-1 stretch and Poole spent his final timeout planning for UVa’s jump-server. After, her attempt hit the net for an error stopping the streak putting the Seminoles up 18-13.

Florida State kept Virginia out of the set and finished with the 1-0 lead, 25-16.

In the second, Virginia played in front after producing from the left side of the court for the 11-9 lead however the Seminoles answered a 4-0 stretch, jumping in front 13-11 forcing the Cavaliers to call timeout.

Out of the break, the Seminoles kept the streak alive extending to a 12-0 barrage with Horton on serve before the Cavaliers sided out with a kill, 20-12.

The Seminoles poured it on down the stretch, closing out the set for the 2-0 advantage, 25-15.

In the third, Florida State fell into a five-point hole (5-10) after a stretch that included three errors forcing Poole to call a timeout.

Off the break, Virginia continued to extend its lead, 12-6 before the Seminoles answered with back-to-back kills, but again the Cavaliers expanded the lead back to five, 14-9.

The Seminoles picked it up, outscoring the Cavilers 5-2 before a pair of errors gave the Cavs the 18-14 lead.

Still chipping at the lead, Horton produced back-to-back kills from the left side, but Virginia answered with a 4-0 run, for the 23-17 lead. Poole called his final timeout of the set.

Out of the break, the Seminoles set Burrington for an easy side out, but they gave it right back to Virginia for set point, however a service error kept the Noles alive, 24-19.

On the next play, Virginia sent a chance wide and followed the mistake with a timeout up 24-20.

Out of the break, Laura Dadowski subbed in and put a clean serve in play, however Horton’s chance was called for a back row attacking violation, cutting the lead to 2-1 after Virginia took the third, 25-20.

Early in the fourth, the Seminoles started sluggish in a 3-6 hole and Poole called timeout.

Out of the break, Virginia committed three straight errors for the 6-6 tie. Virginia earned the side out, but the Seminoles answered with three-straight points to take the 9-7 edge forcing the Cavaliers to call a timeout.

After, FSU extended its lead to 13-8 before a questionable call upset Virginia’s head coach Dennis Hohenshelt. He argued with the officials enough to be issued a yellow before a red card, giving the Noles the 14-8 lead.

Following digression, the Cavaliers answered with a 7-3 run, cutting the FSU lead to 16-15 forcing Poole to call timeout.

Off the break, the teams traded service errors before Walch put down a kill. The Cavaliers refused to quit and answered with three points to take the 19-18 lead, but were called with a blocking error tying the set at 19.

The fourth was tied at 20, 21 before Virginia took the 22-21 lead with a kill from the left side but Kubura responded with a strike from the right for another stalemate. On the next play, Virginia sent a try long giving the Seminoles a 23-22 edge and Virginia called its final timeout.

Out of the break, Burrington stood tough at the net for a block setting up match point, 24-22. Kubura’s heavy swing put the match away on the next rally, 25-22, for the 3-1 match victory.

“It was a very good fourth game,” Poole said. “I felt that both teams were battling and trying to hang in there. We did a great job of keeping it close to be able to take advantage of some things and play well at the end of it.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               4 10  5  30  0.167   0  4  2   1   6  0  7   0   0  17.5
 5 Nicole Walch               4 10  4  21  0.286   1  0  1   2  13  0  1   0   0  10.5
 7 Milica Kubura              4 13  1  19  0.632   0  0  0   0   1  0  2   0   0  14.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            4  0  0   0  0.000  25  1  0   0   4  0  0   0   2   1.0
12 Sarah Burrington           4  8  1  14  0.500   0  0  0   0   0  1  9   0   0  13.5
21 Kiara Wright               4  7  5  19  0.105   0  0  0   0   3  0  2   0   0   8.0
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               3  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               4  0  0   0  0.000   2  0  1   2  21  0  0   0   0   0.0
 8 Hailey Luke                4  0  0   1  0.000  17  1  1   0   4  0  0   0   1   1.0
13 Laura Dadowski             2  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   1  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            4  4  1  14  0.214   0  0  0   0   0  0  1   0   0   4.5
   Team                             1   1                                       
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        4 52 18 119  0.286  45  6  5   5  53  1 22   0   3  70.0
   Opp                        4 47 25 134  0.164  41  5  9   6  43  4  4   3   0  58.0

FSU Suffers First Loss.
The No. 3 FSU indoor volleyball team suffered its first loss of 2014 at Duke, 3-1 on Thursday night.

DURHAM, NC - The third-ranked Florida State (24-1, 12-1) indoor volleyball team suffered its first loss of the season on Thursday, dropping a tough 3-1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-21, 25-21) match to Duke (19-6, 11-3) at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"Duke played great," FSU head coach Chris Poole said. "Their ball control was very good and we didn't have an answer and we just made too many unforced errors on our end."

Sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton led the attack with her fifth double-double of the year, contributing 12 kills and 13 digs.

The Seminoles tallied 13 total team blocks on the night, with junior middle blocker Kiara Wright accounting for five assists and one solo stop. She also contributed 10 kills, hitting her .444 percent. Redshirt sophomore Sarah Burrington tallied four block assists, while Horton contributed three assists.

Freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura was credited with nine kills, while registering two solo blocks and two block assists.

"Our block had to be important for a team like this," Poole said. "I felt like we set the block pretty well and we got some block at times. But we didn't always dig the ball around the block very well. That was the difference was their first touches were better than ours on the ball."

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom scored her fifth double-double of 2014, tallying 27 assists and 10 digs while sophomore setter Hailey Luke put up 17 assists.

Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher was under 14 digs.

Florida State started off firing in the first set, jumping out to a five-point lead 13-8 behind kills from Kubura, junior outside hitter Nicole Walch, Horton and Wright on top of a pair of blocks, however Duke settled and answered with a 5-0 stretch tying it at 13.

After three more ties, The Blue Devils committed an attacking error and Walch followed with an ace, putting the Seminoles up 19-17. Duke would spend its first timeout.

Off the break, Florida State continued its run outscoring Duke, 5-2 teeing up set point, 24-19. Duke answered with a kill for the side out, but sent a service wide for an error, sealing the first set for the Seminoles 25-20 for the 1-0 advantage.

In the second, the Seminoles fell into a four-point hole early after a few mishaps on defense and the attack, forcing Poole to use a timeout down 8-4.

Duke extended its lead to six and Poole would burn his final timeout of the set trailing 12-6.

Florida State chipped at the lead, getting production from Wright on the block, but another 4-0 charge from the Blue Devils extended their lead 17-10.

The Seminoles tightened up the block with Walch registering one on her own before Wright and Horton teamed up for an assist. An attacking error from Duke put the Noles back in it, forcing a timeout down 17-13.

Out of the break, Duke got back its lead but a 3-0 rally from the Seminoles forced Duke into another timeout at 20-17. Once again, Duke answered and closed out the set outscoring FSU 5-3, tying the match 1-1 after claiming the second 25-20.

After nine ties to start the third set, Duke went up by four after a 4-0 stretch, causing Poole to call timeout down 16-12.

Off the break, Duke committed a service error before the Seminoles put up back-to-back blocks. On the next play, the Blue Devils sent a shot wide for an error, knotting the set at 16 and Duke would call a timeout after surrendering four quick points.

After trading side outs twice, Burrington sent a chance wide giving Duke the 19-17 lead and Poole would spend his final timeout of the set.

Off the break, Burrington was set up perfectly for the kill before the Blue Devils were called for back-to-back blocking errors, giving the Noles the 20-19 lead.

Duke answered by forcing the Noles out of sync, capitalizing with four kills on a 5-1 run for the 2-1, 25-21 third set.

Florida State got out to a slow start trailing 6-2 before Poole called timeout in the fourth. Out of the break, the Seminoles could not build any momentum, falling into a 6-12 hole before Poole spent his final timeout.

Chipping away at the lead, the Seminoles pulled within three after a 3-0 charge that was fueled by a pair of Duke errors and a kill from Kubura. Duke would call a timeout with the 16-13 lead.

Duke rallied and extended the lead to five before another 3-0 charge pulled FSU within three, 20-17. Once again, Duke looked to pull away stretching its lead to five but Horton put down a perfect set before contributing on defense on the next play, which would be put away by Kubura, cutting the lead to four, 23-19.

Junior defensive specialist Laura Dadowski subbed in to serve delivering an ace forcing Duke to call another timeout, 23-20. Out of the timeout, Dadowski sent a serve long, giving the Blue Devils match point. 24-20.

Horton put down another kill, but Duke was able to side out of the 25-21 fourth set.

Florida State will have less than 24 hours before stepping on the court with No. 8 North Carolina for the second time this season.

"It's tough playing these matches back-to-back," Poole said, "It's the only time this season we do that. We're going to have to rebound, knowing that each of us have one conference loss going into tomorrow."

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               4 12  4  40  0.200   0  0  1   1  13  0  3   0   0  13.5
 5 Nicole Walch               4  8  7  34  0.029   0  2  0   1  14  1  1   0   0  11.5
 7 Milica Kubura              4  9  4  29  0.172   0  0  0   0   1  2  2   1   0  12.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            4  0  0   1  0.000  27  0  0   0  10  0  0   0   1   0.0
12 Sarah Burrington           4  8  4  23  0.174   0  0  1   0   2  0  4   0   0  10.0
21 Kiara Wright               4 10  2  18  0.444   0  0  0   0   1  1  5   1   1  13.5
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               4  0  0   0  0.000   3  0  0   0  14  0  0   0   0   0.0
 8 Hailey Luke                4  0  0   0  0.000  16  0  1   0   6  0  0   0   0   0.0
13 Laura Dadowski             4  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  2   0   2  0  0   0   0   0.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            4  4  2  12  0.167   0  0  0   0   2  0  3   1   0   5.5
20 Karlie Hauer               1  0  0   1  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        4 51 23 158  0.177  46  2  5   2  65  4 18   3   2  66.0
   Opp                        4 63 26 173  0.214  61  2  7   2  76  0 18   2   0  74.0

Noles Fall at UNC.
The No. 3 FSU indoor volleyball team lost its second-straight match, falling at No. 8 North Carolina on Friday.

CHAPEL HILL, NC - The third-ranked Florida State indoor volleyball team dropped a tough 3-1 (24-26, 25-19, 22-25, 20-25) match to eighth-ranked North Carolina at Carmichael Arena on Friday night.

With four matches remaining, the Tar Heels (22-2, 13-1) take over first place in the ACC, while the Seminoles (24-2, 12-2) sit in second ahead of Duke.

“It’s disappointing,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “In the past few weeks we were making too many errors but we were finding ways to win but teams like North Carolina and Duke are too good to make those types of mistakes against.”

Sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton led the attack tying her career highs with a double-double, swinging for 17 kills and 15 digs while junior outside hitter Nicole Walch added another double-double with 15 kills and 11 digs.

“Those two had some big swings for us,” Poole said. “But, we are going to go back to work to find ways to be more consistent in the next few weeks.”

Florida State produced 11 total blocks with redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington had six block assists while junior middle blocker Kiara Wright registered four block assists and one solo stop.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom produced 27 assists and an ace, while sophomore setter Hailey Luke tallied 23 assists and an ace.

Redshirt senior Katie Mosher was under eight digs.

“We got the match ups we wanted with the lineup,” Poole said. “We were in the right places to do what we needed to do, we just didn’t execute and we made mistakes at critical times.”

In the first, neither team led by more than two points as the set saw 13 ties before Florida State went up by two after Horton put away a cross-court shot and Burrington and redshirt junior Mercedes Vaughn went up for the block for the 22-20 advantage. In result, North Carolina would the call the first timeout of the set.

Off the break, the Tar Heels sided out with a kill before Vaughn sent a try long for another tie, 22-22.

The Seminoles went back to the right side for a shot, but it was sent wide giving the advantage back to Carolina. On the next play, Horton put away a set from Luke, knotting it at 23.

North Carolina answered with a kill for set point, but Horton hit another cross-court beauty for the 24-24 tie, however the Tar Heels sided out with a kill down the line and Poole would use his final timeout with his team facing set point.

Out of the break, the Tar Heels delivered a clean serve that was tough to dig and the Seminoles were called for a lifting violation. North Carolina took the first set 26-24 for the 1-0 lead.

The Seminoles reloaded for the second set and came out leading 11-4 after a 7-1 run before North Carolina called timeout.

Out of the break, Florida State extended the lead to eight before Carolina went on a 4-1 run, chipping into the lead and Poole would call a timeout up 16-11.

The Tar Heels added another kill before junior outside hitter Karlie Hauer entered the match to put one away for the side out and the 17-12 advantage. Mosher delivered an ace before Burrington put away a shot to the right side, but North Carolina answered with two quick points and once again Poole called timeout ahead 19-14.

After cutting the lead to four, the Seminoles were able to side out, rallying three straight behind kills from Walch and Horton on top of a Tar Heel attacking error to tee up set point, 24-16.

North Carolina sided out on the next play, putting its jump-server on serve, fueling a 3-0 charge that included an ace pulling within five, 24-19 but Burrington was there for the kill, tying the match after a 25-29 second set win.

The Seminoles fell victim to a few violations that fueled an 8-1 Tar Heel run, leaving FSU behind by five, 8-3. Florida State answered with a 5-1 charge, forcing North Carolina to call timeout with the 9-8 lead.

After the break, the Tar Heels responded with a 5-1 rally of their own and Poole would use his last timeout of the set trailing 14-9.

North Carolina outscored Florida State 6-4 for the 20-13 lead but the Seminoles got back in it and pulled within two before Carolina put together a 3-0 stretch for set point, 24-19.

Walch and Wright answered with back-to-back kills before the duo fended off another set point with a block. After the 3-0 surge, Carolina called timeout with the 24-22 lead.

Off the break, Carolina got a kill from the middle for the 25-22, 2-1 advantage.

In the fourth, Florida State fell behind 10-5 before a 4-1 stretch pulled the Seminoles within a pair but Carolina stopped the run with a kills, siding out. Carolina tightened up the block and added four-straight blocks for the 16-10 lead and Poole would call a timeout.

After extending the advantage to seven, Florida State chipped away at the lead pulling within four after a 3-0 charge, 18-14 forcing Carolina to call timeout.

Despite a pair of 3-0 rallies by the Seminoles late, North Carolina pushed to the finish for the 25-20 fourth set.

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               4 17  7  35  0.286   2  1  2   1  16  0  3   0   1  19.5
 5 Nicole Walch               4 15  7  34  0.235   0  1  1   5  11  0  3   0   0  17.5
 8 Hailey Luke                4  1  0   1  1.000  23  1  1   0   9  0  0   0   0   2.0
12 Sarah Burrington           4  7  2  16  0.313   0  0  0   0   1  0  6   0   0  10.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            3  4  4  15  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  3   0   0   5.5
21 Kiara Wright               4  7  3  20  0.200   0  0  0   0   1  1  4   2   0  10.0
   ---Substitutes---
 2 Katie Mosher               4  0  0   0  0.000   5  1  0   2   8  0  0   0   0   1.0
 7 Milica Kubura              4  7  3  16  0.250   0  0  0   0   0  0  1   0   0   7.5
10 Sarah Wickstrom            4  1  0   1  1.000  27  0  1   0   8  0  0   0   0   1.0
13 Laura Dadowski             3  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
20 Karlie Hauer               2  2  0   8  0.250   0  0  0   0   2  0  0   0   0   2.0
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        4 61 26 146  0.240  57  4  5   8  56  1 20   2   1  76.0
   Opp                        4 54 20 139  0.245  49  8  5   4  48  2 31   4   1  79.5

Noles Sweep Eagles.
The No. 8 FSU indoor volleyball team defeated Boston College 3-0 for its first three-set win since mid-October.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - The eighth-ranked Florida State indoor volleyball team (25-2, 13-2) swept Boston College (11-19, 6-9) on Friday night at Tully Gym (25-22, 28-26, 25-20) on senior night.

"We'll take it," FSU head coach Chris Poole said. "We were shaken up a little bit last weekend and the girls were motivated to work hard this past week. There are still things we need to do to improve."

For the second-straight match, sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton led the attack with 13 kills, hitting for .312, adding four block assists and nine digs.

"Katie Horton continues to have great matches for us," Poole said. "It's great to have her step up."

Freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura and junior outside hitter Karlie Hauer both subbed in during the match and provided a big lift on offense, as Kubura put up four kills while Hauer produced five, error free.

"Those ladies put up very strong numbers tonight and without errors," Poole said. "There are a lot of things we did well tonight, we just need to keep pushing forward."

The Seminoles put up a total of 12.5 blocks with junior middle blocker Kiara Wright leading the charge with seven assists while redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington added five. Hauer was also in on four blocks.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom produced 22 assists, while sophomore setter Hailey Luke had 12.

Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher put up her best three-set performance of 2014 with 22 digs. Freshman defensive specialist Cecilie Woie subbed in and tallied a season-high of four digs.

After producing from the block early, the Seminoles fell behind by a pair after Boston College outscored the Seminoles 8-5 for the 11-9 lead in the first set.

Florida State bounced back to tie six times before taking the 17-16 advantage following a block from Burrington and Horton. The Eagles would call timeout.

Off the brake, Burrington put away a tip shot after several jousts at the net before teaming up with redshirt junior middle blocker Mercedes Vaughn for another block. Vaughn followed with a kill to give the Seminoles the 20-16 lead.

Boston College chipped away at the four-point deficit and defend two set points before Coach Poole called timeout up 24-22. Out of the break, the Seminoles executed a sweep that was put away by Wright for the 25-22, 1-0 match lead.

In the second, the Seminoles jumped out to a three-point edge early before the Eagles put up a 6-2 stretch forcing Poole to use a timeout down 5-7.

After, FSU buckled down and went on a 5-1 stretch for the 12-10 lead, getting help from the middle of the floor with Burrington and Wright.

Burrington and Horton added kills for the 14-11 advantage and Boston College would call its first timeout of the set.

The Seminoles gave up three-straight errors before Horton sided out with a kill from the left side, but gave it right back with a service error for the 15-15 tie.

Following two more ties, the Eagles went up 18-17 after a kill, forcing Poole to use his final timeout.

Off the break, the Eagles produced back-to-back blocks before Hauer slammed a shot off the block for the side out. Another error from the Eagles cut their lead to one, 20-19, calling timeout.

Boston College added a kill before Horton fired from the left side, but the Eagles responded with another kill for the 22-20 lead.

Horton put down another shot before Burrington found an easy chance down the middle for the 22-22 tie, but the Eagles would side out with another kill before Horton converted a shot for another stalemate.

The Seminoles would shake off set point with Burrington going to that same shot down the middle, however she gave it back with a service error.

Fighting back, Vaughn put down a kill from the right for the 25-25 tie and Hauer came up with a kill off the block for set point.

"Karlie has been having some great practices," Poole said. "We have seven strong hitters and we can only get six on the court. They're all doing well, but she's been so good in practice that we knew we could use here and I thought she came in and did a great job."

A miscommunication from the Noles led to a tie at 26, but on the next play, Luke found junior outside hitter Nicole Walch for the strike from the left side before Horton put away the set, 28-26 for the 2-0 lead.

In the third, the Seminoles went on a 4-0 charge following the 6-6 tie for the 10-6 lead.

Florida State would extend its lead to six before the Eagles cut it in half with three-straight points and the Seminoles would call timeout up 17-14.

After cutting the FSU lead to one, Hauer put away a chance off the block before the Eagles sent a shot wide, putting the Seminoles up 20-17.

Boston College responded with two quick points and Poole called timeout up 20-19.

Once again, Hauer capitalized on another shot before giving it back with a service error. Kubura put away two-straight kills for the 23-20 lead, forcing Boston College to use their final timeout, but Burrington and Kubura would end the match with back-to-back kills for the 25-20 third set sweep.

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               3 13  3  32  0.313   0  0  2   0   9  0  4   0   0  15.0
 5 Nicole Walch               2  4  4  22  0.000   0  0  0   1   5  0  2   0   0   5.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            3  0  0   0  0.000  24  0  0   0  12  0  0   0   2   0.0
12 Sarah Burrington           3  8  1  17  0.412   0  1  1   0   2  0  5   0   0  11.5
14 Mercedes Vaughn            3  5  3  15  0.133   0  0  0   0   1  0  2   1   0   6.0
21 Kiara Wright               3  6  2  13  0.308   0  0  0   0   1  0  7   3   0   9.5
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               2  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   4  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               3  1  0   2  0.500   2  0  1   1  22  0  0   0   0   1.0
 7 Milica Kubura              2  4  0   6  0.667   0  0  0   0   0  0  1   0   0   4.5
 8 Hailey Luke                3  0  0   0  0.000  20  1  0   0   3  0  0   0   0   1.0
20 Karlie Hauer               3  5  0  11  0.455   0  0  1   0   2  0  4   1   0   7.0
   Team                                                      1                  
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        3 46 13 118  0.280  46  2  5   3  61  0 25   5   2  60.5
   Opp                        3 42 17 126  0.198  40  3 10   2  53  4  6   1   2  52.0

Middles Shine in Sweep.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - The eighth-ranked Florida State (26-2, 14-2) indoor volleyball team put up its second-consecutive sweep on Sunday against Syracuse (8-20, 1-15) in Tully Gym (25-19, 25, 15, 25-17).

“We played pretty clean today,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “We’ve struggled a lot this year with unforced errors and it’s something we’re trying to work on. We had some hitters that stepped up and both of our middles led in kills and that’s a good sign that we had great ball control and good passing.”

The Seminoles had major contributions from the middle blockers as junior Kiara Wright led the attack with 12 kills, hitting for .800 percent while redshirt sophomore Sarah Burrington had 10 kills for .529. Burrington also added five digs on defense.

Redshirt junior middle blocker Mercedes Vaughn added nine kills for .438.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom tallied 22 assists while sophomore setter Hailey Luke had 10.

Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher was under 13 digs.

After jumping out to a four-point lead in the first, Syracuse forced the Seminoles to make mistakes before committing a service error leaving the score tied at 13. Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch followed with a kill before an Orange attacking error gave the Seminoles the 15-13 advantage at the media timeout.

Out of the break, the Seminoles built their lead to four before the Orange called timeout at 20-16.

The Orange earned the side out with a tip shot, but Luke answered with a setter dump for the 21-17 lead. Florida State added another kill before Syracuse called another timeout.

Following the break, the FSU defense kept a long rally alive before Vaughn connected with Wickstrom for a kill down the middle for the 23-17 lead.

The Seminoles finished the set with a pair of kills from Burrington for the 25-19, 1-0 match lead.

In the second, Florida State jumped out to an 11-5 lead before Syracuse called timeout. After, Walch delivered her third ace of the match for the 12-7 lead before the Orange sided out with a kill.

FSU extended the lead to eight, 18-10 after Mosher dished an ace and freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura put away a shot through the block before finding a chance cross court and Burrington and Vaughn would contribute kills before the Orange called timeout.

The Seminoles kept their foot on the gas and closed out the second set 25-15 for the 2-0 match lead.

After the 4-4 tie in the fourth, Wright and Luke connected for the lead before continuing on a 5-0 run that was equipped with back-to-back kills from Kubura for the 9-4 advantage.

The Seminoles kept firing, outscoring Syracuse 14-11 before Burrington put down a kill to set up match point, 24-16. The Orange earned the side out after an attacking error from Vaughn, but on the next play she put down a shot at the net that was too hard to handle for the 25-17, third set victory.

Florida State will close out the regular season with a pair of matches at home, starting on Wednesday at 1 p.m. against Clemson before taking on Miami on Friday at 1 p.m.

“Clemson and Miami are two tough teams,” Poole said. “Both took us to five sets at their place and these matches are going to prepare us for the NCAA tournament. We know that both of those teams will come in with nothing to lose and wanting to come in and knock us off."

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               1  1  3   7 -0.286   1  1  0   1   2  0  0   0   0   2.0
 5 Nicole Walch               3  8  5  20  0.150   2  2  2   0   6  0  0   0   0  10.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            3  1  0   2  0.500  22  1  0   0   2  0  0   0   0   2.0
12 Sarah Burrington           3 10  1  17  0.529   1  0  0   0   5  0  1   0   0  10.5
14 Mercedes Vaughn            3  9  2  16  0.438   0  0  0   0   3  0  0   1   0   9.0
21 Kiara Wright               3 12  0  15  0.800   0  0  0   0   1  0  2   0   0  13.0
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               3  0  0   3  0.000   1  2  0   0  13  0  0   0   0   2.0
 7 Milica Kubura              3  7  0   9  0.778   0  0  0   0   0  0  3   0   0   8.5
 8 Hailey Luke                3  1  0   1  1.000  20  0  0   0   1  0  0   0   1   1.0
 9 Caroline Dadowski          2  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
20 Karlie Hauer               2  4  2  11  0.182   2  1  0   1   8  0  0   0   0   5.0
22 Karyn Israel               1  0  0   0  0.000   2  0  1   0   0  0  0   0   1   0.0
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        3 53 13 101  0.396  51  7  3   2  41  0  6   1   2  63.0
   Opp                        3 31  7  84  0.286  28  2  7   7  24  1  8   0   0  38.0

Clean Sweep Over Tigers.
The No. 8 FSU indoor volleyball team defeated Clemson in straight sets on Wednesday.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - For the third consecutive match, the eighth ranked Florida State (27-2, 15-2) indoor volleyball team put up a sweep, defeating Clemson (18-13, 6-11) 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-13) on Wednesday in Tully Gym.

“That was the most complete match we’ve played all season,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “We’ve been having hiccups in sets and in matches and I felt for the most part we were very consistent during our play. There was a lot of things offensively we were able to run and we’ve been working very hard on our defense and that showed today.”

Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch led the attack with 15 kills, hitting for .538 percent, adding seven digs.

“We wanted to come out and play the best possible match,” Walch said. “We need to get ready to have a great game on Friday against Miami and we were really excited to get the win today.”

The Seminoles put tallied eighth total blocks with redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington putting up two assists and two solo while, junior Kiara Wright had four block assists. Burrington added nine kills, while Wright had seven.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom moved into eighth place on the FSU all-time assists lists after she turned in 24 for a career total of 2,829. Wickstrom also had nine digs, while sophomore setter Hailey Luke amassed 19 assists.

Redshirt senior Katie Mosher was under 21 digs. It was the third time this season she put up 20 or more in a three-set match.

“We got a lot of balls up today,” Poole said. “We won a lot of long rallies and as a team we had better chemistry today.”

In the first, the Seminoles jumped out to a 12-6 lead behind five kills, two blocks and five Tiger errors before Clemson called timeout.

After the break, Florida State continued on a 6-0 run to pull ahead by 10 and the Tigers would use their last timeout of the set.

Following the timeout, the Tigers rallied and outscored the Seminoles 4-1 before Poole used his first timeout to settle the team after making a few mistakes.

The Tigers continued their run before Burrington found a spot down the middle for a kill, up 18-12.

Florida State closed out the first set outscoring the Tigers 7-6 for the 25-18 win and 1-0 match lead.

In the second, the Seminoles put together a 3-0 stretch after the 7-7 tie before Clemson responded with two quick points, but right side hitter Milica Kubura earned the side out with a kill to go up 11-9.

Sophomore outside hitter Horton delivered the side out with a kill and forced the Tigers to make an error on the next play. She then dished an ace for the 14-11 lead before Clemson called timeout.

The Tigers pulled within one after an attacking error and a kill, but Walch put away a shot after long rally to go back up by two.

After trading side outs twice, Clemson tied it after an ace, 16-16, but once again Walch found the back corner for the 17-16 edge.

The Tigers would come back and tie the set at 17 and 18 before Kubura put away a cross court shot and Clemson committed an attacking error for the 20-18 lead. Clemson called its final timeout.

Out of the break, Burrington and redshirt junior Mercedes Vaughn jumped for the block. Clemson would answer with a kill, but Burrington swung for back-to-back kills to go up 23-19.

The Tigers would side out, but once again Burrington was too tough to handle as she swung for another kill to tee up set point, 24-20. Clemson defended it, but Vaughn slammed a shot off the block for the kill and 25-21 second set win.

In the third, the Seminoles jumped out to an 11-7 lead before extending it to seven forcing Clemson to use both of their time outs during the stretch up 15-8.

Florida State continued to fire, getting kills from Walch, junior outside hitter Karlie Hauer and junior middle blocker Kiara Wright before adding a block for the 21-10 lead. The Seminoles prolonged their run, finishing with a pair of kills from Wright, Horton and Burrington for the 25-13, third set victory.

“It was important for our confidence and for our chemistry heading into Miami,” Mosher said. “It was an extremely tough match in Miami, they took us to five sets and it’s good to see us building off this past weekend and play a good, clean, full match.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               3  9  2  23  0.304   1  2  1   2  12  0  0   0   0  11.0
 5 Nicole Walch               3 15  1  26  0.538   0  0  2   1   7  0  0   1   0  15.0
10 Sarah Wickstrom            3  0  0   1  0.000  24  0  0   0   9  0  0   0   0   0.0
12 Sarah Burrington           3  9  1  15  0.533   1  0  0   0   1  2  2   0   0  12.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            2  4  2  13  0.154   0  0  0   0   0  0  1   0   0   4.5
21 Kiara Wright               3  7  1  12  0.500   0  0  0   0   0  0  4   0   0   9.0
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               2  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   2  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               3  0  0   1  0.000   0  1  1   0  21  0  0   0   0   1.0
 7 Milica Kubura              3  5  2   9  0.333   2  0  0   0   0  0  5   1   0   7.5
 8 Hailey Luke                3  0  0   0  0.000  19  0  0   0   5  0  0   0   1   0.0
 9 Caroline Dadowski          1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
13 Laura Dadowski             2  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
20 Karlie Hauer               1  1  0   3  0.333   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   1.0
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        3 50  9 103  0.398  47  3  4   3  57  2 12   2   1  61.0
   Opp                        3 32 16 114  0.140  32  3  2   3  43  1  6   2   0  39.0

FSU Sweeps Miami.

The No. 8 FSU indoor volleyball team picked up its fourth-straight sweep to close out the 2014 regular season.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - The eighth ranked Florida State indoor volleyball team (28-2, 16-2) finished the 2014 regular season at Tully Gym with a 3-0 sweep (25-21, 25-22, 25-18) over Miami (19-8, 14-4) on Friday. The Seminoles closed out year by winning 12-straight sets in order to remain unbeaten at home in conference play since 2010.

“We’ve got our legs back under us after this one,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “Through the beginning of November we struggled because we were fatigued from traveling and fortunately we were able to finish the season at home. I feel like we’re playing well and hopefully we’ll get a good draw and be able to host and get ready for the NCAA Tournament.”

Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch led the attack with 13 kills while sophomore outside hitter Katie Horton produced 10, hitting for .600 percent.

“I thought out hitters played well,” Poole said. “They all did very well and I was happy with their performance.”

The Seminoles put up seven total team blocks with junior Kiara Wright accounting for three assists and one solo stop while redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington had two block assists and one solo. Wright added three kills, while Burrington contributed seven.

Freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura added five kills and two block assists.

“Our defense and block was a little off early,” Poole said. “But they both gained some steam as the match went on and we got better and they came through when we needed it.”

Both senior setter Sarah Wickstrom and sophomore setter Hailey Luke produced 17 assists each with Wickstrom contributing 10 digs for her fifth double-double of the year.

Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher was under four digs and dished three assists.

“Miami is a strong team,” Poole said. “There were some long rallies and it was going to be tough for us. We are continuing to improve as the season progresses. That’s a positive thing.”

After trading side outs in the beginning of the first set, the Seminoles opened up a three point lead at 15-12 before Miami called timeout. Florida State stretched it to 4-0 run following a kill from Kubura.

Miami pulled within two, but a kill from Burrington and back-to-back aces from Horton forced Miami to burn its final timeout, with the 20-15 lead.

Off the break, the Hurricanes scored two quick points with a kill and a block and Poole would use his first timeout of the set.

The Hurricanes added another solo stop before committing an attacking error ending the 3-0 run. After trading side outs, the Seminoles broke open a three-point stretch behind a kill from Walch, a ball handling violation on Miami and an ace from Luke for the 24-19, set point.

Florida State put the first set away following a kill by Walch for the 1-0, 25-21 first set win.

In the second Miami sparked a 5-0 run early to take the 8-5 lead before Poole used a timeout to settle his team.

Off the break, Florida State rallied to pull ahead after a 6-2 stretch, 11-10. The set would remain close, seeing 11 ties and three lead changes as neither squad led by more than two points.

After ties at 21 and 22, Florida State surged to set point behind a Miami service error and a kill from Kubura for the 24-22 lead and the Hurricanes would use their last timeout.

Out of the timeout Miami could not answer the FSU block as the Seminoles took the 2-0 lead after a block from Kubura and Wright for the 25-22 second set victory.

In the third, the Seminoles came out firing to a 7-1 lead before Miami called its first timeout. The Hurricanes chipped at the lead throughout the set, but Florida State outscored Miami 25-18 in the third, as a block by Walch and Wright sealed the 3-0 sweep.

“Rivalry matches are important to the ladies,” Poole said. “Miami was going to try and come in here and take the win from us, but our girls stepped up.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               3 10  1  15  0.600   0  2  1   0   5  0  2   0   0  13.0
 5 Nicole Walch               3 13  5  29  0.276   0  0  1   0   5  0  1   0   0  13.5
10 Sarah Wickstrom            3  0  0   0  0.000  17  0  0   0  10  0  0   0   1   0.0
12 Sarah Burrington           3  7  0  12  0.583   0  0  1   0   0  1  2   0   0   9.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            2  1  2   5 -0.200   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   1   1.0
21 Kiara Wright               3  3  1   8  0.250   0  0  0   0   0  1  3   0   0   5.5
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               2  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   2  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               3  0  0   0  0.000   3  0  1   0   4  0  0   0   0   0.0
 7 Milica Kubura              3  5  1   7  0.571   0  0  0   0   2  0  2   0   0   6.0
 8 Hailey Luke                3  0  0   0  0.000  17  1  0   0   2  0  0   0   0   1.0
13 Laura Dadowski             1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
20 Karlie Hauer               2  2  0   8  0.250   1  0  0   0   1  0  0   1   0   2.0
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        3 41 10  84  0.369  38  3  4   0  31  2 10   1   2  51.0
   Opp                        3 45 15  97  0.309  44  0 12   3  25  2  4   3   4  49.0

Noles Breeze Past Jacksonville.
The Florida State indoor volleyball team swept Jacksonville on Thursday to advance to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - The No. 8/6 Florida State (29-2) indoor volleyball team put up a 3-0 sweep (25-13, 25-21, 25-15) over Jacksonville (19-15) in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament at Tully Gym.

“We’re excited to be able to get this first round win,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “Hopefully the girls will be relaxed and ready to go for tomorrow. Jacksonville did a great job each time we’d try to get a lead on them, they’d fight to be able to come back, and that’s the sign of a good team. Obviously they’ve worked hard to get there.”

Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch led the attack with 14 kills, hitting for .448, adding nine digs. It was the fourth-straight match the Seminoles hit over .300 as a team, hitting for .337 percent.

“I think it’s important to come out strong,” Walch said. “We’ve been working hard at coming out and just being successful in the beginning and trying to finish it all the way through. I think it’s very important for us to do that, just continue on with the tournament, and not take each team for granted and come out strong in every match.”

The Seminoles registered 11.5 team blocks with redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington leading the charge with seven block assists, adding eight kills. Redshirt junior Mercedes Vaughn tallied four block assists, while junior middle blocker Kiara Wright, and Walch each contributed three assists each. Wright also added nine kills.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom produced 18 assists, while sophomore setter Hailey Luke tallied 15.

Junior outside hitter Katie Horton was under 13 digs, while redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher put up 11 and two aces.

After leading by one early in the first, the Seminoles went on a 7-0 run to go up 14-7 before the Dolphins sided out. After adding two kills, the Seminoles answered with a strike from junior outside hitter Karlie Hauer. Following the media timeout, FSU poured on another 3-0 charge for the 18-9 lead.

Junior defensive specialist Laura Dadowski subbed in to serve for Sarah Burrington and fueled a 4-0 run that included an ace to tee up set point, 24-12. The Dolphins sided out, but Walch put it away for the 1-0 match lead following a 25-13 first set victory.

In the second, Jacksonville jumped out in front with a one-point edge, but the Seminoles went on an 8-4 charge with kills from Wright, Walch and Horton for the 15-10 lead. After the media break, FSU added a pair of blocks to go up 17-10 before the Dolphins sided out.

Florida State extended its lead to ten, 21-11 before Jacksonville used a timeout.

Off the break, the Dolphins put up a 6-1 stretch and Poole would use a timeout up 22-17. Burrington put down a kill out of the break, but Jacksonville continued to chip away at the lead and a service error would tee up set point, 24-19.

The Dolphins shook off two set points before sending a service long for the 25-21 second set and 2-0 match lead.

Jacksonville pulled within one early in the third, before the Seminoles went on a 5-0 barrage behind a strike from Burrington and three-straight off the hand of Walch for the 12-6 lead, forcing the Dolphins to call timeout.

After, the Seminoles continued to run their offense at a fast pace, stretching the lead to 17-8 before the Dolphins used another timeout.

Off the break, FSU continued to fire, building an 11 point lead, 20-9 before closing out the match, 25-15 for its fifth-straight 3-0 sweep and 27th consecutive victory on its home floor.

“We have a lot of confidence, a lot of depth in our team,” Poole said. “Some of the players aren’t playing against each other, and you see that out there, but they’re pushing us every day, any of the subs are, so we feel like we’ve got some players that can do some good things.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               3  5  4  23  0.043   0  1  0   0  13  1  2   0   0   8.0
 5 Nicole Walch               3 14  1  29  0.448   1  0  2   0   9  0  3   0   0  15.5
10 Sarah Wickstrom            3  0  0   0  0.000  18  0  0   0   8  0  0   0   0   0.0
12 Sarah Burrington           3  8  0  15  0.533   0  0  0   0   1  0  7   0   0  11.5
14 Mercedes Vaughn            3  4  1  11  0.273   0  0  0   0   3  0  4   0   0   6.0
21 Kiara Wright               3  9  2  16  0.438   0  0  0   0   1  0  3   0   1  10.5
   ---Substitutes---
 2 Katie Mosher               3  0  0   1  0.000   4  2  1   0  11  0  0   0   0   2.0
 8 Hailey Luke                3  0  0   1  0.000  15  0  0   0   5  0  0   0   1   0.0
 9 Caroline Dadowski          2  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  1   0   3  0  0   0   0   0.0
13 Laura Dadowski             1  0  0   0  0.000   0  1  0   0   1  0  0   0   0   1.0
20 Karlie Hauer               3  3  0   8  0.375   1  0  0   0   2  0  2   0   0   4.0
22 Karyn Israel               1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
   Team                                                      1                  
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        3 43  8 104  0.337  39  4  4   1  57  1 21   0   2  58.5
   Opp                        3 32 19 117  0.111  29  1  6   4  47  1  4   2   0  36.0

FSU Advances to Second-Straight Sweet 16.
The Seminoles hit 43 percent in order to advance to its second-straight Sweet 16.

TALLAHASSEE, FL – Four months ago the Florida State volleyball team was virtually a group of strangers, with nine newcomers on the 17-player roster when camp opened.

They aren’t strangers any longer. In fact, the (No.8/6) Seminoles are headed to the NCAA Seattle Regional as one of the nation’s most dangerous teams after sweeping Alabama 25-18, 25-22, 25-19, Friday night at Tully Gym to secure their fourth NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in six years.

A force at the net offensively behind the hitting of Nicole Walch and Sarah Burrington, and relentless defensively against Alabama’s athletic attack, the Seminoles (30-2) rattled off their sixth consecutive sweep. It was the kind of performance that makes it difficult to comprehend how quickly Poole’s club has come together.

“It’s amazing,” Poole said following the victory. “We’ve talked about all the new players we’ve had, but people wouldn’t even know that. There are nine players out there who weren’t even here last fall. The chemistry and work that they’ve put in since we’ve started that first day of August practice has been phenomenal.

“This is a team that continues to work hard on and off the court.”

Senior libero Katie Mosher, FSU’s all-time leader in digs, was marveling at what the team has accomplished after the Seminoles collected their 29th consecutive home victory against the Crimson Tide.

“[Last] January if you had asked any of us, we were definitely nervous,” Mosher said. “We lost some players. We are just so fortunate that we got the players that we did. You don’t know how we’re going to blend together.

“What we have in common that makes us so good, is we’re so focused and we all have the same goal of winning the national championship.”

That was evident Friday night when the Seminoles unleashed the second-best hitting performance of the season – and 11th-best in Poole’s seven seasons – by converting at a .427 clip. Walch led the way with 13 kills and Burrington added 11, but FSU received significant contributions from Katie Horton, Mercedes Vaughn, Kiara Wright and Milica Kubura, who combined for 19 kills.

Mosher did her part with 10 digs, while Sarah Wickstrom dished out 23 assists and Hailey Luke passed out 15 more.

“We have so much depth and so much confidence in everyone on our team,” Walch said. “We just want to take it one game at a time right now. Going to the Sweet 16 two years in a row, we have gained respect as a volleyball program.”

The Seminoles have earned that respect in a variety of ways:

• Friday’s win secured the eighth 30-win victory in program history;
• They have responded to back-to-back losses at Duke and Carolina with six 3-0 sweeps in a row;
• With one more victory they will be assured of nothing worse than a share of the highest single-season winning percentage in program history.

And of course, they’re headed back to Sweet 16; a place where no FSU team had been until Poole’s arrival in 2008.

“We’ve actually been to the Sweet 16 four of the last six years, which as a program, it is certainly something I wanted to do when I got here,” Poole said. “That says a lot, because there are many, many programs that never get to the Sweet 16. I feel like we’re finally in place to where people are starting to respect us at a national level and expect us to be good.”

The Seminoles set the tone for their trip to Seattle midway through the opening set, rattling off six unanswered points with Horton in the service position to break open a tightly-contest contest en route to a 25-18 win. Consecutive kills by Burrington turned a one-point deficit into a 12-11 lead, which ballooned to 16-11 behind a Horton ace and a block and kill by Walch.

“I was just thinking, ‘Get it in and keep it going,’” Horton said.

In a set that saw nine ties and five early lead changes, the Crimson Tide could never gain enough traction to get closer than four points the rest of the way.

“When you’re in that situation it’s like two boxers going at each other to see who can knock the other one down first, to get that first lead,” Poole said. “They were a great team. We were testing each other. It was close there. When we had that breakout and we made that move it kind of set the tone for the rest of the match. Our confidence swelled and certainly we put an exclamation point that we were capable of stepping up when we needed.”

FSU responded again in the second set, which see-sawed back-and-forth and was deadlocked at 22-all when Walch came through with a big kill and Horton dumped a shot over the ‘Bama defense for a 24-22 edge. Wright and Kubura finished it off, tag-teaming on a block for the 25-22 victory.

“We just calmed down when we needed to,” said Wright. “We realize when we’re getting a little too hyped, or we’re getting down. We just focus on each other and do what we needed to do and just get it done.

“It’s more important that we trust each other to get that contribution from each player…Our chemistry off the court helps everything on the court. Knowing that everyone has those great moments in games, and everyone can turn it on at any point, I’m just excited so see everyone turn it on at the same time.”

The third-set action featured more of the same as the teams as the match was tied eight times before Walch and Kubura delived back-to-back kills for a 17-14 lead that the Tide could not overcome, committing seven scoring errors in the decisive set. FSU pulled away and Burrington finished off a Wickstrom pass for the final kill and the 25-19 win.

“For us to come out and hit 43 percent against a very good Alabama team – a very athletic Alabama team – that certainly says a lot about their focus,” Poole said. “For the most part we limited them on the things we wanted to. We tweaked our defense a little bit and I thought the girls did a great job making the covers that they needed to do and did a great job keeping us in our offense.

“It’s very critical that we continue to be aggressive defensively and continue to run down balls. We made some saves over the last two nights that certainly bodes well for the future and shows what we’re capable of doing.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               3  5  1  14  0.286   0  3  2   0   8  0  0   0   0   8.0
 5 Nicole Walch               3 13  1  23  0.522   0  1  3   3   7  0  1   0   0  14.5
10 Sarah Wickstrom            3  1  0   2  0.500  23  0  1   0   6  0  0   0   1   1.0
12 Sarah Burrington           3 11  1  17  0.588   0  1  1   0   4  0  3   0   0  13.5
14 Mercedes Vaughn            3  5  0  11  0.455   0  0  0   0   1  0  2   0   0   6.0
21 Kiara Wright               3  4  1   8  0.375   0  0  0   0   0  0  2   1   0   5.0
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   1  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               3  0  0   2  0.000   2  0  0   2  10  0  0   0   0   0.0
 7 Milica Kubura              3  5  1  11  0.364   0  0  0   0   2  0  2   1   0   6.0
 8 Hailey Luke                3  0  0   0  0.000  15  0  0   0   2  0  0   0   0   0.0
13 Laura Dadowski             1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
   Team                             1   1                    2                  
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        3 44  6  89  0.427  40  5  7   7  41  0 10   2   1  54.0
   Opp                        3 38 14 101  0.238  34  7  6   5  35  1  5   2   3  48.5

FSU Falls Short in Sweet 16.
Despite an 0-2 deficit, the Florida State indoor volleyball team fell short of a comeback dropping a 3-1 contest to BYU in Sweet 16.

SEATTLE, WA - The No. 8/6 Florida State indoor volleyball team was knocked out of the NCAA Tournament in the Seattle Regional Semifinal by No. 12 BYU, 3-1 (20-25, 19-25, 25-19, 26-24) on Friday at the Alaska Airlines Arena.

“We had a great year,” FSU head coach Chris Poole said. “We accomplished a lot. It’s always going to hurt when you lose in the end. It’s disappointing. Certainly we had our opportunities. Every point counts. We’ve talked about that all year about how every ball that drops and how every pass that is made is important and how it can make the difference between winning and losing at the end and it did for us in that fourth set. BYU is a great team. They’re big and physical and we knew that. I felt like that threw us off a little in the first part of the match, but we were getting better and better as the match went on and we showed a lot of character to keep fighting.”

Junior outside hitter Nicole Walch found her stride in the third set and finished the match with a double-double, 23 kills and 10 digs despite battling the national leaders in blocking, while sophomore Katie Horton tallied nine kills and 15 digs.

Freshman right side hitter Milica Kubura provided a lift on the attack, producing 11 kills, hitting for .471 percent while adding three blocks.

The Seminoles had eight total team blocks with redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sarah Burrington accounting for four and 10 kills. Junior Kiara Wright produced four blocks and seven kills.

Senior setter Sarah Wickstrom put up a double-double, accounting for 28 assists while leading the team with 19 digs. Sophomore setter Hailey Luke tallied 22 assists. Redshirt senior libero Katie Mosher was under 18 digs on defense.

In the first, the Seminoles struck first jumping out to a 6-2 lead with Burrington on serve and BYU called its first timeout. Off the timeout, the Cougars answered with a 3-0 scamper before FSU responded with a 3-0 rally of its own for the 9-5 advantage.

BYU put the pressure on the Noles, forcing a few miscues before tying it at 9. BYU pulled ahead by a pair, but Burrington delivered a kill down the middle before the Cougars committed an attacking error for the 14-14 tie.

The Cougars would break open a four-point advantage off a 5-0 run and Poole would use his second timeout down 14-19.

BYU extended the run to 7-0 before Walch put down the kill for the side out down 15-21. The Seminoles refused to quit, mustering up a 5-1 charge with production from the block and back-to-back kills from Kubura to pull within three, 23-20 and BYU would call its final timeout.

Out of the break, the Cougars earned the side out before delivering the final point with a kill for the 25-20 first set lead.

After falling in a three-point hole early in the second, the Seminoles battled back and took over the lead 8-7 however, BYU pulled ahead by two at the media timeout 15-13.

Out of the break, the Seminoles hit into the block twice, falling behind by four, 17-13 and Poole would use a timeout.

The Cougars added an ace, but the Seminoles responded with a 3-0 rally. After Horton put down a kill following a stretch where the ball was kept alive twice, allowing FSU to reset and run the offense, BYU called timeout up 18-16.

After, the Cougars added to their lead, 20-16 before the Seminoles answered with a pair of their own, pulling within three but BYU put down a pair of kills after the block by Burrington for the 23-18 lead and Poole would use his final timeout of the set.

The Seminoles hit into the block before siding out and the Cougars found the open spot on the court for the 25-19, second set and 2-0 lead.

“We’ve had a lot of confidence in this team,” Poole said. “We’ve been down like this before this season and we fought our way back. We knew we could do it and we just knew we needed to be cleaner with our touches and we started doing that in the third set.”

In the third, FSU fell into a three point hole before climbing out to tie at eight. After ties at 10 and 11, BYU went up by a pair, but kills from Burrington and Wright knotted it right back up at 14. However, the Cougars took the 15-14 lead into the media timeout after earning the side out with a kill.

“The coaches kept telling us to run a fast offense,” Burrington said. “We knew it was working for us and that was the thing we kept talking about.”

Following the media break, Walch swung for the kill for the side out to go on serve. Wright and Kubura went up for the block before Walch dished an ace would ricochet off the tape and onto the floor for the 17-15 advantage. BYU called its first timeout.

BYU answered with a big side out from the back row, but Walch showed her strength from the back row with a powerful strike down the middle. Mosher followed with an ace before Walch took over the set with two more kills for the 23-18 lead, putting down nine for the third set. The Cougars would use their final timeout.

Out of the break, Walch and Burrington stood tall for the block teeing up set point, 24-18. The Cougars would side out with a kill, but Burrington found the back corner off the sweep for the 25-19, third set win, cutting the BYU lead to 2-1.

In the fourth, The Seminoles jumped in front to 6-2 lead before BYU called timeout. FSU continued to fire for the 11-5 lead before the Cougars found a rhythm with four-straight points and Poole would call timeout with the 11-9 lead.

After, BYU sent a service long and failed to control one and FSU went back up by four, 13-9. BYU delivered two more kills, but the Seminoles answered with a 3-0 rally fueled by two kills from Horton and an ace before the Cougars would use their final timeout, 16-11.

BYU responded with 3-0 stretch of its own and Poole would use a timeout. After trading side outs twice, the Seminoles pulled ahead by four after a kill from Walch and a big solo stop by Wright, 20-16. BYU rallied to within one before Kubura put down consecutive chances for the 22-19 edge.

After the teams traded side outs, the Seminoles had set point after Burrington put away a shot off the sweep, 24-21 but BYU refused to quit and defended three-straight set points before tying it 24-24. The Cougars put up a block for match point and would finish off the match with five consecutive points, 26-24, defeating the Seminoles 3-1.

“We’ve got some fighters on this team,” Poole said. “We knew they weren’t going to give up and they worked hard throughout the match. It’s unfortunate when you lose in this situation. But two good teams played tonight, we battled and BYU was the better team tonight.”

Florida State finishes the 2014 season with 30-3 record (.909 percent), a second-straight Sweet 16 appearance, a senior class that achieved 112 career wins while earning the highest ranking (No. 3) and NCAA Tournament seed (No. 6) in school history.

“We’ve been making history from beginning to end,” Wickstrom said. “It’s sad to see it end. It’s been the best four years.”

 
                                -----ATTACK----- SET SERVE SRV DEF BLOCK GEN
NO        NAME               SP  K  E  TA    PCT   A SA SE  RE DIG BS BA  BE BHE  PTS
== ========================= == == == === ====== === == == === === == == === === =====
 4 Katie Horton               4  9  0  23  0.391   1  2  2   2  15  0  1   0   0  11.5
 5 Nicole Walch               4 23  9  54  0.259   0  1  1   0  10  0  1   0   0  24.5
10 Sarah Wickstrom            4  0  1   1 -1.000  28  0  1   0  19  0  0   0   0   0.0
12 Sarah Burrington           4 10  3  26  0.269   1  0  0   0   0  0  4   0   0  12.0
14 Mercedes Vaughn            1  1  2   6 -0.167   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   0   0   1.0
21 Kiara Wright               4  7  4  14  0.214   0  0  0   0   2  0  4   1   0   9.0
   ---Substitutes---
 1 Cecilie Woie               1  0  0   0  0.000   0  0  0   1   0  0  0   0   0   0.0
 2 Katie Mosher               4  0  0   0  0.000   6  1  0   0  18  0  0   0   0   1.0
 7 Milica Kubura              4 11  3  17  0.471   0  0  0   0   1  0  3   0   0  12.5
 8 Hailey Luke                4  0  0   1  0.000  22  0  0   0   5  0  0   0   0   0.0
20 Karlie Hauer               4  2  3  13 -0.077   1  0  0   0   0  0  3   0   0   3.5
                             =========================================================
6  FSU                        4 63 25 155  0.245  59  4  4   3  70  0 16   1   0  75.0
   Opp                        4 62 17 158  0.285  59  3  3   4  58  3 26   1   1  81.0