Down 24–18 in the third set, Boston College volleyball needed to prevent another Florida State point to avoid dropping back-to-back games without winning a set.
Ultimately, its efforts were not enough, as the Eagles (14–9, 3–6 Atlantic Coast) fell 3–0 to FSU (14–7, 8–1 Atlantic Coast) in Tallahassee, Florida on Friday despite early leads in the first and second sets.
“We [had] to learn a little bit from what went wrong against UNC and fix some things during the week to try and play a little bit better against Florida State today,” BC head coach Jason Kennedy said.
Despite Kennedy’s hopes, BC was unable to maintain the momentum required to win.
FSU junior Khori Louis started off the scoring in the first set with a kill to put the Seminoles ahead 1–0. But BC quickly responded with a Julia Haggerty kill, and the Eagles managed to take a 6–3 lead.
Jenna Pollock allowed FSU to tie the game 6–6 with an attack error. Sydney Conley followed with a well-aimed kill to put the Seminoles ahead by one.
The Eagles stayed competitive, as a Louis error handed BC a 14–13 lead. But that marked the last time BC would be in the lead in the first set, as it only managed to score three more before the end of the set, as FSU finished on a 7–0 run.
The Eagles registered 10 errors in the set while the Seminoles had six.
Additionally, FSU junior Audrey Koenig was a major force in the first set, recording eight kills.
“For the most part, I thought we did a really good job of executing the game plan. We just let one of their players get away from us.…it was certainly going to be a tough test to get to somebody so balanced,” Kennedy said.
BC, however, came out strong in the second set with a 6–0 run to pull ahead for an early 6–1 lead, and Halle Shroder notched back-to-back kills to put BC up 8–2.
But FSU responded, and Kiari Robey recorded a kill to tie the score at 11–11.
As the set continued, each squad refused to give the other the lead. The score was tied a total of seven times.
Freshman Audrey Ross’ error proved costly, as it gave the Seminoles a 21–18 lead. FSU won the set on a 6–1 run, capitalized by three straight kills to win 25–19.
“We’ve got to have a short-term memory and we’ve got to find a way to generate a little more offense,” Kennedy said. “I thought our offense was much better tonight than it was last weekend. …I think we’re playing better and hopefully sooner rather than later that translates to a win.”
Despite solid starts to the first two sets, BC fell flat at the start of the third set, unable to pull ahead of FSU once. Katrina Jensen sealed the Eagles’ loss with an error that gave FSU a 25–18 win.
“Florida State is a really good team. They’re a traditional powerhouse for volleyball. …but [the ACC] is the conference we chose to be in and that’s the test we’re up against every night,” Kennedy said.
BC registered 37 kills compared to FSU’s 43. Jensen and Schroder led the Eagles with nine kills each.
And despite the loss, Kennedy remains optimistic.
“I think the team is excited that we’re making progress, excited that we’re getting a little bit better, and we’ll see what Sunday has in store for us,” Kennedy said. “I think there’s a little bit of growing here, but as a whole I think the team is getting better.”
