Noles Head to Bay Area to Face No. 5 Stanford and Cal

TALLAHASSEE - The Florida State volleyball team (8-7, 2-4) will head out west to face No. 5 Stanford (14-3, 5-1) on Thursday night and Cal (5-11, 2-4) on Saturday night. First serve on Thursday is set for 10 p.m. eastern with Saturday's match beginning at 7 p.m. eastern. Both matches can be seen live on ACCNX.

Seminoles Make First Trip to Bay Area to Face Stanford and Cal

The Seminoles will make its first ever regular season trip out to the Bay Area this week as they face No. 5 Stanford on Thursday night and Cal on Saturday.
Stanford is ranked No. 5 in the country and holds a 14-3 record and 5-1 in ACC play. The Cardinal have ranked wins over Florida and Missouri with their three losses coming to current No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Texas and No. 4 Louisville.
A win over Stanford would mark FSU highest ranked road win in program history.
Cal is 5-11 but picked up two ACC wins on the road at Virginia and Virginia Tech. Cal's three other wins came against San Diego State, San Francisco and Vanderbilt.

Series History

Stanford and Florida State have met just twice in its history. The Cardinal have taken both matches including a four-set victory in Tallahassee last November.
The Noles lead the all-time series against Cal 3-2 and will be just the second meeting between the two teams in the 21st century.

Last Time Out

The Noles fell to two top ten teams last weekend against No. 10 SMU and No. 4 Pitt. The Noles took the Mustangs to four sets on Friday night behind a career-high performance from Kyleene Filimaua as she recorded 25 kills while hitting .351.

Henke Proving to be One of Top Players in ACC

Iane Henke was looking to take a big step in her second year with the Garnet and Gold and has done so in her senior season.
Henke has missed the last four matches due to injury but is expected to make her return this week.
Henke is second on the team with 177 kills and leads the team with 4.43 kills per set.
Henke ranks third in the ACC with 5.20 points per set and fourth in the ACC in kills per set and aces per set.
Henke's 5.20 points per set and 4.43 kills per set are also top 25 marks in the country.
Henke has recorded back-to-back matches with 20 or more kills. Henke is the first Nole since Audrey Koenig in 2023 to have back-to-back 20+ kill matches.
Henke had a career-high 21 kills against Georgia Tech. Henke is one of two players in the ACC to record 20 or more kills in a three-set match this season.
In the four matches against North Florida, USF, South Carolina and Oklahoma, Henke tallied 15 or more kills in all four of those matches while hitting over .300 in all those matches. Henke is the first FSU player since Norisha Campbell in 2001 to accomplish that feat.
Henke also recorded 15 or more kills in six consecutive matches from Aug. 30-Sept. 14 which is the longest streak since Payton Caffrey had six consecutive matches with 15 or more kills in 2018.
Henke has recorded double digit kills in 10 consecutive matches.
Henke has recorded 17 service aces so far this season after recording just five aces all of last season.
Against UIC, Henke had seven service aces which was tied for the fourth-most in FSU history. Henke joined Audrey Koenig as the only two FSU players to record seven or more aces in the past 20 seasons.
Henke's seven aces are tied for the third-most in a three-set match of any player in the country this season.
Henke was the 2022 Division II AVCA National Freshman of the Year at Cal State LA.

Filimaua Having Great Season for Garnet and Gold

Filimaua is FSU's most experienced and productive returner as she enters as a two-year starter in her junior season.
In her first full season as an outside hitter, Filimaua leads the team with 207 kills along with 126 digs and 19 service aces.
Filimaua has recorded double digit kills in nine of her last 11 matches and has recorded a double double five of her last seven matches.
Filimaua had the best match of her career against No. 10 SMU as the senior recorded 25 kills on 54 attempts while hitting .352. Filimaua's 25 kills were the most by a Seminole since Payton Caffrey in 2019. Her 25 kills were also tied for the seventh-most in school history against an ACC opponent.
In 2024, Filimaua did a little bit of everything as she recorded 173 kills, 66 assists, 27 aces, 267 digs and 23 blocks. Filimaua filled in at libero during the middle of the season last year but will return to her main position as an outside hitter in 2025.

Kpea Impressing in Her Freshman Season

Nenu Kpea has had a great start to her career in the Garnet and Gold and has taken her play to the next level.
Kpea has played in all 57 sets for FSU and leads the team with 66 blocks and 1.16 blocks per set.
Kpea has recorded 110 kills and is hitting .292.
Against UNF on August 30, Kpea had a game-high eight blocks against the Ospreys.

Lexie Mason Taking Big Step in ACC Play

With a school record nine true freshmen on the squad, Head Coach Chris Poole has seen this young group take some big strides as of late.
Opposite hitter Lexie Mason has played in 52 sets for the Noles this season and has made starts in the last four matches.
After having just 30 kills in the first nine matches, Mason has come on in ACC play with 43 kills in the last six matches including a career-high 14 kills at Wake Forest on October 3.
Mason has also been a lot more efficient in conference play as she is hitting .274 in ACC play compared to a .124 hitting percentage in non-conference play.

Victoria David Makes the Most of Opportunity

In the absence of Iane Henke, freshman Victoria David has stepped up in a big way.
David played in just six sets prior to October 3 and has played in all 17 sets since.
David has 25 total kills and 31 digs.
David picked up 10 kills in the win against the Demon Deacons and had seven kills and 13 digs against NC State.

Ewing Giving the Noles Great Production

Delaney Ewing has been a great addition for the Noles in the middle.
Ewing has played in 54 out of the 57 sets with 70 kills and 53 blocks.
Ewing had her best match with the Garnet and Gold as she recorded a season-best 10 kills and eight blocks at NC State.
Against UIC, Ewing had seven kills on seven swings in the Noles' sweep over the Flames.
Ewing comes from the University of San Francisco where she recorded 155 kills and 83 blocks in her freshman season.

Noles Bring on Former Sun Belt Libero of the Year in Mio Yamamoto

The Noles made a big splash in the transfer portal in picking up 2023 Sun Belt Libero of the Year Mio Yamamoto from Louisiana.
Yamamoto leads the team with 205 digs and has also added 19 aces.
Yamamoto has recorded double digit digs in 12 out of the 15 matches this season and had a season-high 25 kills at NC State on Oct. 5
Yamamoto was a two-time All-Sun Belt First Team selection in her two seasons in Lafayette.
Yamamoto ranked in the top 25 in the country in digs per set and recorded 13 matches with 20 or more digs in 2024.
Yamamoto has the most career digs of anyone on FSU's roster.

Nicholson and Stevenson Leading FSU's Offense

FSU brought in a couple of transfers from the portal to lead the offense for the 2025 season.
Lily Nicholson comes from TCU where she played in 112 out of the 113 sets for the Horned Frogs last season.
Nicholson leads the Seminoles with 292 assists and 5.12 assists per set.
Nicholson became just the eighth player in TCU history to record 1,000 assists with her 1,108 assists in her sophomore campaign.
She averaged 9.89 assists per set which ranked fifth in the Big 12 and 60th nationally.
She helped the Horned Frogs record a .252 hitting percentage over the course of the season which was tied for the second-best mark in school history.
Stevenson comes from Montana State where she started two seasons for the Bobcats.
Stevenson has recorded 274 assists in 15 matches.
Stevenson recorded over 1,000 assists in 2023 and added 664 assists in 2024.
Stevenson tallied 68 service aces in her two seasons in Bozeman.

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Florida State University Athletics

Noles Head to Bay Area to Face No. 5 Stanford and Cal

Players Mentioned

Victoria David

Delaney Ewing

Kyleene Filimaua

Iane Henke

Audrey Koenig

Nenu Kpea

Lexie Mason

Lily Nicholson

Mio Yamamoto

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