Gulf Shores, Ala. – The fifth-seed Florida State Seminoles (29-9) defeated 12th-seed Cal Poly 3-2 in the single elimination round at the NCAA Championship Tournament. The Seminoles will take on fourth seed LMU on Friday, May 6th at 11:00 AM EST.
FSU 3, Cal Poly 2
The Seminoles advance to the round of eight after a very close dual with Cal Poly. Florida State had an advantage over the Mustangs, winning the first set on courts two through five. The Mustangs fought back to make the match interesting, forcing courts three and five to three sets. Kate Privett and Anna Long kept the Seminole’s postseason alive with a 15-13 win in the third set.
Florida State got the scoring started with a two-set win on court four. Morgan Chacon and Jordan Polo had the most dominant Seminole win today, defeating Cal Poly 21-14 in the first set and 21-12 in the second set. Coming off an undefeated weekend at the CCSA Tournament, Chacon and Polo are on a five-game winning streak and have an overall record of 16-4.
Madison Fitzpatrick and Alaina Chacon tallied the second match point for the Seminoles on court two. The veteran pair has been coming to the NCAA tournament since 2018. The Mustangs took an early lead against Chacon and Fitzpatrick in the first set, but the pair fought back and scored five unanswered points to gain the lead. From that point on, the match was in their hands. Chacon and Fitzpatrick improve to 26-8 on the season, defeating the Mustangs 21-17, 21-15. Chacon is one win away from 100 career wins.
The Mustangs were not ready to give up that easy and tied the dual with wins on courts one and five. On court one, Cal Poly defeated Maddie Anderson and Brook Bauer in two sets 21-19, 21-16. The second point for the Mustangs was earned in three sets on court five. Raelyn White and Caitlin Moon dominated in the first set, winning 21-13. In the last two sets, Cal Poly was able to capitalize off FSU errors and take the match point 21-15, 15-11.
Kate Privett and Anna Long saved the Seminoles on court three. It took extra points for Privett and Long to defeat the Mustangs in the first set, 25-23. Cal Poly responded in the second set, winning 21-16. Court three was the final court to start their third set, behind court five. As the match on court five ended, Privett and Long were down 12-10. With all eyes on them, the pair scored three unanswered points to take the lead and allowed only one more point, winning 15-13.
This was the third time that the Seminoles have defeated Cal Poly this season, the other wins were at home and at Cal Poly. Florida State is 8-0 all-time against the Mustangs.
The Seminoles will take on LMU on May 6th at 11:00 AM EST. Florida State has faced LMU once this year, resulting in a 3-2 win in favor of LMU. LMU entered the tournament as the fourth seed and defeated 13th-seed Hawaii 3-0 in the first round of the tournament. From here on out, the bracket is double elimination. The match will be on ESPNU, and the link to the broadcast will be provided on the social pages as well as Seminoles.com.
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