Tigers Topple No. 12 Miami in Five Sets; Earn Highest Ranked Win in Program History

Photos by David Platt, Clemson Athletic Communications

Proud to have debuted our black UNITY warmups last night 🐾 pic.twitter.com/pzgfihoO1I

— Clemson Volleyball 🏐 (@ClemsonVB) October 9, 2020

CLEMSON, S.C. – The Clemson Volleyball team earned its highest ranked win in program history with a five-set victory (23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 14-25, 15-10) over No. 12 Miami in Jervey Gym Thursday evening. With the win, the Tigers improved to 1-0 on the season and dealt Miami, which fell to 3-2 overall and in ACC, its first road loss of 2020.

Box Score (PDF)

Clemson freshman Camryn Hannah led the Tigers’ effort with 15 kills on 35 swings along with nine digs and one block. Freshman Cate Long registered a double-double in her first career match with 10 kills and 13 digs. Junior Solei Thomas (10 kills) and freshman Colleen Finney (9 kills) also added a nice spark offensively for the Tigers. Mckenna Slavik tallied 46 assists on the match, which ties her fourth-best mark of her career. Defensively, Clemson was led by senior libero Madi Howell, who totaled 18 digs on the night. Howell’s 18 digs put her in Clemson’s 1,000-dig club with exactly 1,000 career digs.

Outside hitter Elizaveta Lukianova dominated for the Hurricanes, earning a career-high 30 kills on the match, including 14 in set No. 4. Lukianova posted her then career-best 28 kills against Georgia Tech on Sept. 25 earlier this season.

Despite Miami having four matches under its belt in 2020, the Tigers held their own in the first as neither team ever led by more than two points. However, the Hurricanes’ experience was on display late in the set as they registered the last four points of the set to win, 25-23.

Clemson responded in the second, evening the match 1-1. The Tigers offense came alive in game No. 2 with a combined 18 kills from six different players, including Long, who came off the bench late in the first, and Hannah. Both Long and Hannah had a team-best four kills each in the second frame, while Howell posted seven of her 18 digs in the second. In set No. 2, Clemson out-hit Miami .359 to .125.

The Hurricanes would tie the match, 2-2, after winning set No. 4, 25-14 in large to the Lukianova’s 14 kills. Miami also hit .412 as a team in the frame.

The Tigers took control in the middle of the fifth with Mckenna Slavik behind the service line for four straight plays. Miami cut the CU lead to three (12-9) late in the set, but the Tigers registered points on three of the last four plays to win the fifth, 15-10, and match.

Clemson (1-0, 1-0 ACC) and Miami (3-2, 3-2 ACC) will face off in a rematch in Jervey Gym on Friday at 4 p.m. Friday’s contest is set to air on RSN (Fox Sports South locally), or ACCNX (subject to blackout) where RSN is unavailable.

For complete coverage of the Clemson Volleyball team, follow @ClemsonVB on Twitter and Instagram, and @ClemsonVolleyball on Facebook.