Hurricanes Travel to Florida State for ACC Action
Oct. 19, 2004
Coral Gables, Fla. – The University of Miami volleyball team will travel to Tallahassee, Fla. to take on in-state rival FSU Wednesday at 7:00 pm Tully Gym. The match will be aired live on the Sunshine Network.
The Hurricanes hope to carry the momentum of a three-match winning streak, that saw them upset North Carolina, into Wednesday night’s match.
This will be the second time this season that the in-state rivals will square off. The Hurricanes swept the Seminoles in three games on September 24th at the Knight Sports Complex. The win brought the all-time series to a 2-2 tie.
Miami currently sits fourth in the ACC with the team hitting a third-best .247 hitting percentage. As a team the Hurricanes are ranked second in aces per game (1.77 apg), kills per game (16.43 kpg) and assists per game (15.52 apg) as well as, fourth in blocks per game (2.71bpg) and eighth in digs per game (15.21dpg).
The Hurricanes have relied on the outstanding play of outside hitters Valeria Tipiana and Karla Johnson as well as setter Jill Robinson. Tipiana is currently first in the ACC in aces per game 0.66 and fourth in both kills (287/4.86pg) and hitting percentage (.348). Robinson is second in the ACC in assists per game (837/13.72pg). Johnson is coming off a match-high 23 dig performance against North Carolina.
Also making their mark on the team and among ACC leaders are middle blocker Ciara Michel, who is ranked second in blocks per game (1.48) and libero Jamie Grass who’s 4.36 digs per game places her fourth in the ACC.
FSU welcomes Miami fresh off wins over North Carolina and NC State. The Seminoles now hold a 12-7 overall record and improved to an even 4-4 in ACC play. Like the Hurricanes, the Seminoles are riding a three-match win streak into Wednesday’s match-up.
Leading the way for the Seminoles is ACC Co-Player of the Week Kristen Rust who has hit 235 kills this season for a 3.73 kills per game average. The only other player with 200 kills is Amanda Santos who also leads the team in blocks with 73 total, including 17 solo blocks. Jessica Skower has dished out 833 assists for a 12.43 assists per game average.
Defensively, Summer Weissing leads the Tribe with 241 digs, 3.44 per game.
