Coming off a tough loss against No. 6 Pittsburgh, Miami was looking for a bounce back win on the road in a rivalry rematch versus Florida State (20-8, 14-2 ACC). The ‘Canes fell short and dropped the match 3-1.
Set one began with both teams trading runs back and forth. Leading the offense early for the ‘Canes was freshman Grace Lopez with five kills and redshirt senior Angela Grieve with four kills.
This trading eventually ended late in the first set when UM pulled away, going on a 4-0 run thanks to three attack errors by the Seminoles to make the score 21-18. However, FSU did not go away without a fight and managed to bring the set to within one point at 24-23.
Luckily for the Hurricanes, a Lopez kill finished off a much-needed victory in set one by a score of 25-23.
Set two was a completely different story than the first. Rather than going back and forth, the Seminoles (20-8, 14-2 ACC) jumped out to an early 12-5 lead. That lead forced Miami (16-9, 9-6 ACC) to be in comeback mode for the entirety of the set and proved to be enough as the Hurricanes dropped the set, 25-21.
Despite the loss in set two, the ‘Canes saw good play from sophomore Flormarie Heredia Colon with five kills and fifth-year setter Savannah Vach with two kills, along with a handful of assists.
Set three began similarly to set two, as it saw the Seminoles jump out to a quick 10-5 lead, but unlike the second set, the Hurricanes managed to take that lead back in the middle of the set following a kill by graduate student Janice Leao.
Florida State responded to the ‘Canes comeback with two quick points of their own and was content to trade points for the rest of the set. The ‘Noles did exactly that, resulting in a two-point victory in set three, 25-23.
Set four was tightly contested, with many lead changes. Miami can attribute most of its offense in this set to Lopez, who racked up an outstanding nine kills in this set alone. Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, the Seminoles went on a run at the end of the set, winning 25-21 and defeating Miami 3-1 in the match.
Match leaders for the ‘Canes were Lopez with a career-high 27 kills, good for ninth all-time in program history in a single match, Leao with four blocks, Vach with 54 assists and junior Yaidaliz Rosado with 17 digs.
Next up for Miami, it will head back home for Senior Night on Friday at 7 p.m. to face a tough No. 11 Georgia Tech (21-4, 12-3 ACC) team that it swept on the road in Atlanta earlier in the season.