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FSU volleyball travels to face Syracuse, BC

Bob Ferrante

Ultimate Seminole Insider
Staff
May 10, 2022
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Via FSU sports information:

The Florida State volleyball team is back on the road this week with matches at Syracuse and Boston College. Friday’s match against the Orange will begin at 7 p.m. with Sunday’s match set to begin at 1 p.m. Both matches can be seen live on ACC Network Extra.

Scouting the Orange
The Syracuse Orange once again having a solid season under first-year head coach Bakeer Ganesharantnam. The Orange are 10-10 and are 6-4 in the ACC with key wins over North Carolina, Clemson, Wake Forest and Duke.

The Orange have one of the best hitters in the conference in Polina Shemanova. Shemanova is third in the conference with 4.11 kills per set and 312 total kills this season. Her 4.11 kills per set ranks 32nd in the country. Viktoriia Lokhmanchuk is a 6-5 outside hitter that has also been great for the Orange with 238 kills and 3.17 kills per set.

Scouting the Eagles
The Boston College Eagles got off to a great start to the 2022 campaign, winning their first 10 matches of the season but have dropped 10 out of its last 14 to hold a 14-10 overall record and a 2-8 record in ACC play. The Eagles are led by head coach Jason Kennedy who is in his fifth season with the Eagles.

On the court, Boston College is led by Alayna Crabtree. Crabtree leads the team with 227 kills and is also great at the service line with 32 aces on the season. The Eagles have had great success behind the service line this season and are one of two teams in the ACC to have two players inside the top ten in aces (Sophia Lambros and Alayna Crabtree).

Northeast Dominance
The Seminoles have dominated both Syracuse and Boston College in the history of these programs meeting on the volleyball court. The Seminoles are 13-0 against Syracuse. The two teams faced once in 1992 and have played every season since the Orange joined the ACC in 2013. The Seminoles have been just as dominant against Boston College, holding a 24-1 record against the Eagles. The Seminoles only loss came in 2007 in a five-set match in Chestnut Hill. Since 2011, the Seminoles have only dropped two sets against the Eagles.

Going For 100
Senior middle blocker Emma Clothier will be playing in her 100th career match for the Garnet and Gold on Sunday against Boston College. Clothier has been a constant for the Seminoles in her four years at Tallahassee. Clothier has played in every single match for the Seminoles since she arrived on campus and has only missed four sets during her career with the Seminoles. Emma currently is tied for 14th all-time in Florida State history in starts made in a career with 94. If she starts the remaining eight matches of the regular season, Clothier will move into the top ten in that category.

Switching it Up
The Seminoles have had some bad injury luck this season which has caused Head Coach Chris Poole to be a little creative with the starting lineups this season. Through 21 matches, the Seminoles have used 10 different lineups. The Seminoles have not had their entire starting lineup healthy since Sept. 9 in the match against Creighton.

Serving Up Aces
The Seminoles were phenomenal from the service line in its two matches against Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. The Seminoles tallied 12 aces in each match which were both season-highs. The Seminoles 24 aces in back-to-back three-set matches is a season-high in the ACC.

Sophomore Audrey Koenig has been a great surprise for the Noles behind the service line this season. A 2021 ACC All-Freshman Team selection, Koenig leads the team in aces with 26. This comes after Koenig rarely served last year for the Seminoles and did not record a single ace during the 2021 season.
 
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