TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Clemson volleyball (12-13, 3-10 ACC) battled until the last point against Florida State (16-8, 8-5 ACC) but fell in four sets (23-25, 27-25, 27-25, 18-25) on Friday evening in Tully Gymnasium. Junior Cate Long led the Tigers offensively with 20 kills, one shy of her career high, and six aces. Freshman Mia McGrath followed with a career-high 17 kills of her own.
Florida State jumped out to early leads in both the first and second set that resulted in Clemson taking an early timeout each time. In the first set, the Tigers were able to swing momentum back in their favor with kills from McGrath, Ani Clark and Camryn Hannah. Freshman Sophie Catalano made the push for Clemson serving an ace that transitioned into a four-point scoring run that concluded with a solo block from Colleen Finney. Despite pushing the envelope, Clemson dropped the first set, 25-23.
Clemson came out of the first timeout in the second set ready to battle. Long, McGrath and Hannah picked up kills, but it was freshman Becca Micelle and McGrath who had Clemson stringing together a 9-1 scoring run for the Tigers as both picked up aces. Long added a four-point stretch of her own with back-to-back kills followed by back-to-back aces giving Clemson a 20-15 lead. FSU tied things at 24-all before the Seminoles took the set, 27-25.
The Tiger and Seminoles traded points through the beginning of the third set with FSU holding a 15-13 advantage at the media timeout. Clemson came out of the timeout and picked up the next few points off a kill from Mckenna Slavik and an ace from Catalano. Florida State started to inch ahead, but the Tigers remained within striking distance as McGrath, Clark and Long tallied kills down the stretch. Mckenna Slavik gave Clemson the go-ahead ace before an attacking error by FSU handed Clemson the 27-25 set win.
Sophomores Devan Taylor and Azyah Dailey picked up early points in the third for Clemson off of an ace and kills, respectively. Finney and Long continued to be strong for Clemson with kills of their own, and Long had two additional aces that had Clemson ahead, 12-10, to force FSU to call timeout. Clark and Long pushed to keep the Tigers in the match, but Clemson fell short, dropping the fourth set, 25-19.
Up Next
The Tigers will conclude their two-week road stretch on Sunday, Nov. 6 at Miami. The match will be streamed at 1 p.m. on ACCNX.
