PREVIEW | Thunderbirds Set to Compete in Florida Atlantic Owls Classic 

CEDAR CITY, Utah -- The Southern Utah volleyball team will travel to Boca Raton, Florida this weekend to compete in the FAU Classic. Over the course of the tournament the Thunderbirds will face host team Florida Atlantic University, Bethune-Cookman and Boston College. 

"This tournament found us while we were searching to build our schedule earlier in 2018," said head coach Pete Hoyer. "We are excited to make the trip as it will be a very competitive one volleyball-wise. It will also be nice to take the team to the beach and continue to build unity before (Big Sky) Conference play begins." 

Last Time Out

The Southern Utah volleyball team hosted the Thunderbird Classic last weekend where they went 2-1, competing against Saint Mary's College, Middle Tennessee State University and Boise State University. 

Two Thunderbirds were named to the All-Tournament team after the conclusion of play; Stacey Hone and Katy Montgomery. Hone for her leading the T-Birds overall offensively with 35 kills and seven blocks and Montgomery for 25 kills and eight blocks. 

Opponent Preview: Florida Atlantic University (3-2 Overall, 0-0 Conference USA)

The Florida Atlantic Owls will host their second home tournament of the 2019 season, as they opened their year with the FAU Invitational at home. The Owls defeated both Grafton and Stetson during their first matchups of the season. 

Last weekend, FAU traveled to Fort Worth, Texas for the TCU Fight for the Fort tournament. The Owls fell to Colorado State University 3-0 and Florida State University 3-1. FAU ended the tournament on a high note after defeating host team TCU in five sets 3-2. 

Leading the charge for the Owls offense is senior Massiel Matos who has 57 kills on the season, averaging 3.63 kills per set. Just behind Matos is outside hitter Sydney Nemtuda who has 52 kills on the season, averaging 3.29 kills per set. Defensilvey, FAU looks to Kori Varney in the back row as she tallies 68 total digs. Cailea Gibbs leads the Owls in total block with 13, followed by Zuri Smith who has nine total blocks. Nikki Lakman is the starting setter for FAU, punching in 102 assists this season, averaging 5.10 assists per set. 

This is Fernada Nelson's seventh season as head coach of the Owls. 

The Thunderbirds will compete against FAU on Friday, September 13th, at 10:00 a.m. MT. 

Opponent Preview: Bethune-Cookman University (2-3 Overall, 0-0 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference)

The Wildcats missed three matches last weekend due to cancellation. They did, however, compete against Texas Southern University, who they defeated for the second time this season after five sets. Previous to the cancellations, the Wildcats fell to Houston Baptist 3-0, University of Texas Rio Grande 3-1 and Radford 3-0. 

Jordan Jefferson leads the Wildcats in digs and kills, totalling 54 digs and 49 kills. Faith Landreneaux comes in second in kills with 23, first in blocks with 14 and first in aces with 11. The Wildcat's setter, Ryleigh Taylor tallies 87 assists on the season. 

Brittany Williams begins her fifth season as head coach of the Wildcats.

Southern Utah will face Bethune-Cookman on Friday, September 13, at 2:30 p.m. MT. 

Opponent Preview: Boston College (4-2 overall, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference)

The Eagles opened their 2019 campaign at the Oregon Classic where they played fell to Oregon State University 3-0, defeated University of California Irvine 3-0 and fell once more to University of Oregon 3-0. Last weekend the Eagles competed in the UCONN Challenge where they went 3-0, defeating Central Connecticut State University 3-1, the University of Connecticut 3-2 and Iona College 3-0. 

Jewel Strawberry leads the Eagles offense with 70 kills on the season and comes in second in digs with 56. Amaka Chukwujekwu, a middle blocker, tallies the second most kills with 38 and tops the block statistics with 21. Madison McKnight leads the Eagles in assists with 88, averaging 4.89 per set. Torey Baum has the most digs for Boston College with 57. 

Jason Kennedy is heading into his second season as the head coach of Boston College. 

The Thunderbirds will play the Eagles on Saturday, September 14, at 8:00 a.m. MT. 

Live Stats/Live Stream 

A live stream for Southern Utah's matches matches will be available at https://bit.ly/2kFfAWc

Live stats will be provided at https://bit.ly/2xfkrQj

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