Nov. 20, 2003

Final Stats

2003 ACC Women's Volleyball Tournament

ORLANDO, Fla. - Florida State (16-15, 5-11 ACC) defeated NC State (7-25, 0-16 ACC) 3-0 by scores of 30-22, 30-23, 30-20 in the first round of the ACC Tournament on Thursday night at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.

The Seminoles never trailed in the opening game on their way to a 30-22 win. FSU raced out to a 7-1 lead to open game one, but NC State would answer with a rally of their own to cut the Seminole lead to two at 8-6. Florida State held onto a three-point lead at 19-16 as NC State's defense held them close in the game. The Seminoles moved its lead back up to five by a score of 22-17 and capitalized on several Wolfpack errors as they took game one 30-22.

In game two, Florida State came out quickly again as they led 6-2 at the start. NC State battled back and following a few Seminole hitting errors, the Wolfpack cut the Seminole lead to one at 8-7. FSU quickly pushed its lead back to four by a score of 11-7 only to see NC State go on an 8-2 run to take their first lead of the match at 15-13. The lead did not last long for the Wolfpack as Florida State regained the lead and took game two 30-23.

Florida State jumped out to an early 7-3 lead in game three. The advantage grew to 14-8 for the Seminoles before the Wolfpack called a timeout. Florida State saw their lead increase to 22-12 before the Wolfpack went on a run of their own to cut the deficit to 23-17. That would be closest NC State would come as Florida State captured the third game 30-20.

Kristen Rust led the way for the Seminoles connecting on 19 kills to hit .326 for the match. ACC Freshman of the Year Cassie McLaughlin recorded 10 kills, seven digs and two blocks to help Florida State to victory. Amy Cochran led all Wolfpack hitters with a .417 hitting percentage in the loss.

With the win, Florida State advances to the second round of the ACC Championship and will face the first-seeded Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Friday, November 21 at 1:30 pm.