Florida Atlantic entered the match against Wichita State (9-9, 4-2 AAC) coming off a two match losing streak. The Owls were searching for another AAC victory, and their first conference victory away from Boca Raton. FAU won the first two sets, but could not gain a third victory as they fell to the Shockers 3-2. Set one saw the Owls jump out to a 5-1 lead before the Shockers pulled the match within one; 10-9. A block assist by Kaila Ru and Victoria Hensley was the exclamation point going into the media break as the Owls had the lead 15-13. A Valeria Rosado (pictured above, Angelina LaBelle) kill helped the Owls pull away to a 19-15 lead, as Florida Atlantic went on to win the set 25-19. Wichita State responded to the set one loss by quickly earning a 3-0 lead. FAU fought back to even the set at three. Both teams traded attacks before an Isabelle Northam (pictured below, Angelina LaBelle) ace brought the set even again at eight. Neither team was able to truly pull away from each other as at the media timeout, Florida Atlantic was ahead 15-13. The set was even once more at 19 before a 6-1 run by FAU guaranteed the set victory 25-20. Set three was one to forget for the Owls as the Shockers jumped out to a 5-0 lead and never let go of it. Florida Atlantic fell to WSU 25-14 as the squads prepared for a fourth set with FAU leading the match 2-1. The Owls had a great start in set four as they had a 6-2 lead. A Rosado kill extended FAU’s lead by six; 11-5. Wichita State then went on a four-point run before an FAU timeout as it was now 11-9. FAU controlled the set once more as they gained a four point lead; 16-12. At the next timeout, it was 18-13 in favor of Florida Atlantic. Coming out of the timeout WSU went on a 5-2 run to bring the set within two, 20-18 before a Florida Atlantic timeout. The Shocker’s run continued as WSU evened the set at 20. The teams traded errors and kills as it was FAU ahead 23-22. The Shockers closed the set out on a four-point run to force a fifth set. The final set began with FAU leading 2-0. The Shockers fought back to even the set at six. Florida Atlantic was able to gain another two-point lead at 10-8 before WSU once again tied the set at 10. Wichita State was able to gain their first lead of the set 13-12. WSU gained match point before a Rosado kill evened the set at 14. The Shockers earned the victory 16-14 to win the match 3-2 after trailing 2-0 to begin the match. Another road match, another loss for FAU. Rosado put the team on her back as she led in kills, 18, and digs, 18, earning herself a double-double. The Owls had a total of 60 kills compared to Wichita State’s 72. Hensley had 52 assists leading the Owls to a total of 59, while WSU had 70. Florida Atlantic had 68 digs while the Shockers had 81. Ru had five blocks leading the Owls to six, while WSU had 11. FAU (10-8, 2-4 AAC) heads back to Paradise for a weekend stay against Rice and USF. The Rice Owls (10-4, 5-0 AAC) have had a great start to conference play. Just like FAU, Rice has two sweeps in AAC play. Also for the Rice Owls they enter on a five-match winning streak. Florida Atlantic will look to gain their third conference victory against Rice on Friday, Oct. 18 at 6 P.M.
