TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – After an big upset win over 12th-ranked North Carolina on Friday, the 20th-ranked Florida State indoor volleyball team used its momentum to dominate NC State on Sunday at Tully Gym, 3-0 (25-12, 25-18, 25-17). With the win, the Seminoles move to 17-6, 10-2 ACC while the Wolfpack drops to 17-7, 8-4 ACC.
“We need to be able to create problems for teams,” head coach Chris Poole said. “Sometimes, that’s power blocking, serving or digging, but when we can do those things it allows us to get on a few runs and I feel like in each of those sets we were able to do that and take NC State out of their game.”
The victory adds to a bit of history in the all-time series as Florida State extends its winning streak to 27 matches over NC State. The last loss to the Wolfpack was on Nov.13, 1999.
It also marks the eighth straight-set win in 2013 and fourth-consecutive over NC State.
Sophomore outside hitter Nicole Walch led the Seminole attack with 11 kills while also registering nine digs. Freshman right side hitter, Izzy Carmona also contributed double-digit kills, scoring 10 while adding a pair of blocks.
Redshirt junior Katie Mosher moved into sole possession of third place on the FSU career digs list after she turned in a tally of 16 for the day. Her current total of 1,438 passes Holly Schneider, who amassed 1,426 digs during the 1995-1998 seasons.
The Seminoles jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first set and kept their foot on the gas, taking it 25-12.
“It’s huge for confidence,” Mosher said. “You go on these runs and you start building momentum. Even if we’re down in a set, you keep getting on these runs and it gets in head of the other team. It gives you so much more confidence.”
The second set was a bit of a different story as it saw eight ties and five lead changes before sophomore setter Hailey Luke came to serve with the score knotted 16-16.
Luke sparked a 5-0 run that contained three service aces to put FSU back on top 21-16. Thanks to that streak, Florida State closed out the set on a 9-2 run to take it 25-18.
In the third, the Seminoles fell victim to a Wolfpack 4-1 run early, but would come back to take over the lead at 5-4 and never looked back. FSU took the set 25-17.
“It’s real important for us to get good starts,” Poole said. “But when we don’t it’s imperative that we’re able to raise our level of play back up and in games two and three, we started off slow but immediately turned it around and got back in the middle of it and towards the end we were able to pull away.”
Florida State has now beaten 23 straight ACC opponents in Tully Gym.
The Seminoles hit the road for a pair of conference matches with Virginia on Friday, Nov. 8 in Charlottesville, Va. at 7 p.m. before heading to Blacksburg, Va. to play Virginia Tech on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.
Follow Florida State indoor volleyball on Seminoles.com as well as on the team’s official Twitter (@FSU_Volleyball) and Facebook pages (Facebook.com/FSUVolleyball).
