Miami Hosts Florida State In Volleyball Tuesday Night
Oct. 22, 2007
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – For the first time this season the University of Miami volleyball team is preparing to play a mid-week match as UM is set to host in-state rival Florida State Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. at the Knight Sports Complex. The match, which will be televised live on Sun Sports, will be a clash of two teams that have split their last six matches with FSU winning the most-recent battle, 3-0, earlier this season in Tallahassee.
Miami (9-11, 3-8 ACC) is coming off a weekend in North Carolina in which it split a pair of matches against N.C. State and North Carolina. The Hurricanes snapped a six-match losing streak with a 3-1 win over the Wolfpack on Friday before dropping Saturday’s match at UNC, 3-0. Florida State (8-11, 5-6) comes to Coral Gables after going 2-0 against the same opposition, defeating the Tar Heels, 3-2, on Friday and the Wolfpack, 3-0, on Saturday. The `Canes enter the match with a 5-5 record at home but are winless in four tries against ACC opposition at the Knight Sports Complex while FSU is 2-7 away from home and 2-4 in league play on the road.
“We’re coming off a match in which we passed exceptionally well and that will be an important factor going up against a tough-serving team like Florida State,” head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch said. “If we can put ourselves in a situation to run offense in various positions, it will be a key factor in how well we play.”
Ciara Michel is coming off one her best weekends this season, recording 27 kills in two matches after recording just 30 in previous five. In UM’s win over N.C. State, Michel hit .379, recording 16 kills while committing just five errors in 29 attempts while also recording five total blocks. Katie Gallagher also had a big match for the `Canes reaching the 50-assist mark for the fifth time this season, finishing with 52. In addition to setting up the offense, Gallagher contributed across the board for UM with seven digs, two aces and seven kills while leading the team with a .500 attack percentage.
Cassie Loessberg reached to 20-dig mark in back-to-back matches for the first time in a month, recording 27 against N.C. State and 20 at North Carolina. She is the lone Hurricane to have reached triple-figure digs in ACC play thus far, averaging 4.72 digs per game. Michel has improved her play defensively in league play, increasing her blocks per game average from 1.34 per game in non-conference play to 1.45 in ACC action.
Genny Mayhew’s 265 kills overall and 156 in ACC play continue to lead the club while Michel and Bridget Bomhack rank second and third on the team with 192 and 178 kills overall. Gallagher and Loessberg are the team’s top servers having recorded 49 and 42 aces respectively while Gallagher is averaging 10.23 assists per game through 11 league matches.
About Florida State
The Seminoles have two players with over 200 kills in Mira Djuric (267) and Makini Thompson (212) and two with at least 300 assists in Nikki Baker (454) and Lauren Rosenthal (343). Djuric, who recorded a combined 43 kills in FSU’s last two matches, has also been a force behind the line this season with ACC-high 56 aces in 68 games. Defensively for FSU, Summer Weissing has tallied a team-high 267 digs (3.93 dpg) while Ashlee Moon and Djuric each have over 100 with 114 and 109 respectively. Three Seminoles have tallied over 40 total blocks with Brianna Barry’s 58 leading the way.
All-Time Series
Florida State owns a slight 13-15-1 edge over UM all-time while the `Canes hold a close 4-3 edge over FSU when the two teams have met as ACC opponents. When the two teams met in Tallahassee on Sept. 14 this year, the Seminoles came away with a 3-0 win behind Djuric’s match-high 13 kills and five aces. UM had its worst match of the season offensively, hitting just .011, recording just 27 kills while committing 26 attack errors in 88 attempts. Mayhew led the team with seven kills and Loessberg finished with a match-high 12 digs. Last season, the Hurricanes lost a close match to the Seminoles at the Knight Sports Complex, falling 15-12 in the deciding fifth game.
In addition to the Sun Sports broadcast, the match can be seen live via ACC Select at www.ACCSelect.com and can be followed online with GameTracker at www.hurricanesports.com. The University’s student network WVUM 90.5 FM will also be broadcasting the contest. For tickets, contact the Hurricane ticket office at 1-800-GO-CANES.
After Tuesday’s match against FSU, Miami will remain at home this weekend as Virginia and Virginia Tech visit the Knight Sports Complex. The Hurricanes will host the Cavaliers Friday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. before facing the Hokies Saturday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m.
