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In freedom

05/11/2021 | 6:00 p.m.

FORT MYERS, Florida. – The FGCU volleyball team drove 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-12) past Jacksonville at the Alico Arena Saturday night to expand the nation’s fourth-best winning streak to 14 consecutive games. The Eagles improved to 21-4 overall and remained unbeaten in the ASUN game at 13-0, while the Dolphins fell to 4-21 overall and 1-12 in the league.

The win also extends the Greens and Blues home winning streak to 14 games from last season. With two road matches this coming weekend in Liberty (Friday, November 5) and Kennesaw State (Sunday, November 7), the Eagles have the chance to beat their all-time best start in ASUN games, the 2012 FGCU has set with a 14-0 start in the league.

“The game has developed nicely. I thought we started a little slowly in terms of our tasks, but that improved from set to set and I was happy with it,” said head coach Matt Botsford. “We didn’t have the same level of energy as last night, which is a tough one at this point on the schedule, but I think we need to keep ourselves at a high level there. Overall, I’m pretty happy with tonight and” the two of them Games this weekend. “

Overall, the Eagles scored 0.273 with 37 kills on the night, while the Dolphins scored 0.073 on Saturday. The Dolphins made 18 attack errors, compared to 10 for FGCU. The Greens and Blues also had a strong presence on the net with an 11 to 4 lead in team blocks.

Erin Shomaker (Granville, Ohio / Granville HS) was the only player in the game to have 11 kills that reached a double-digit amount. She almost got a double-double with nine digs. Cortney VanLiew (Seymour, Ind./Columbus East HS) added eight kills while Emma Szypszak (Mequon, Wis./Homestead HS) had six kills and a career high of eight blocks. Dana Axner (Dublin, Ohio / Dublin Coffman HS) had a match high of 15 digs while Chelsea Lockey (Eaton, Colo./Eaton HS) led all players with 27 assists.

“Emma did great from a blocking and efficiency standpoint when she stood in for Juliana. That was exactly what we needed to build that cohesion when we have different lineups out there,” said Botsford. “She did a good job coming out and making an impression.”

Jenna McNamara led JU with eight kills while Gyrani Rogers had 14 digs.

FGCU took control of the first set with a 10-to-2 run to go up 15-7. The Dolphins rallied to narrow the gap to 18-14, but the Eagles scored six of the final eight points and took advantage of the early game advantage.

In two six-point runs in the second set, FGCU built a sovereign 17-7 lead before expanding it to up to 13 on the track. A couple of kills from Shomaker for a Skylar English (Naples, Florida / Barron Collier HS) kill sealed the set win for the Eagles.

In the final set, FGCU scored 11 points in a row to build an 18-7 lead on the way to winning the game. While the Eagles didn’t score as efficiently compared to the first and second sets, the FGCU held Jacksonville defensively on a -0.077 hit rate to complete the win.

Most career kills

1. 1,584 Cortney VanLiew (.227) 2017-present
2. 1,483 Amanda Carroll (.259) 2015-19
3. 1,173 Brooke Youngquist Sweat (.245) 2004-07
4th 1,132 Olivia Mesner (.331) 2011-14
5. 961 Jessica Barnes (.194) 2010-14

Most career digs

1. 1.965 Whitney Hendry (390 movements) 2004-07
2. 1,849 Dana Axner (364 sets) 2018-present
3. 1,687 Whitney Masters (483 sentences) 2011-14
4th 1,652 Holly Youngquist (418 movements) 2008-11
5. 1,369 Brook Youngquist Sweat (346 Sets) 2004-07

Most career aids

1. 4,540 Maggie Rick (467 sentences) 2015-18
2. 4,408 Gigi Myer (474 ​​sentences) 2011-14
3. 3,203 Chelsea Lockey (347 sets) 2018-present
4th 3,108 Chandra Lefever (309 sentences) 2006-09
5. 1,809 Laura Monovill (186 movements) 2004-05

For full coverage of the volleyball program, follow the Eagles on Twitter at @FGCU_VB, on Instagram at @FGCU_VB, on Facebook at / FGCUVolleyball and online at FGCUathletics.com. You can also subscribe to receive news about FGCU volleyball or other programs directly to your inbox by www.fgcuathletics.com/email.

EAGLE CAMPAIGN

IT TAKES A TEAM to accomplish our newest goal – a $ 10 million campaign to meet the needs of students and athletes for continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, strength and conditioning, and the needs of the Departments in expanding and improving the facility to satisfy mentoring and leadership training for trainers and employees. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the EAGLE campaign – Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Become part of our team and Promise your gift today to help the eagles of tomorrow!

TRAINER BOTSFORD
Matt Botsford is in his eighth season as the head coach of the FGCU women’s volleyball program in 2021, having been hired on Feb.10, 2014 -19 (.828) inclusion in ASUN replay. Including last year’s unprecedented spring season, it has taken the program to heights it hasn’t seen in the Division I era (2007-present) – totaling at least 20 wins in six of the last seven seasons and at least 10 wins in conference play too every season. In 2018, he led the program to his first regular season championship since 2012 (fourth overall) and his very first ASUN tournament title, NCAA tournament appearance, NCAA tournament win, and victory over a ranked team. His first two campaigns resulted in a runner-up in the ASUN regular season, and in the following two the Eagles rose to the tournament championship for the Spring 2021 season. On September 10, 2016, Botsford led his team to a five-set win against Indiana at Alico Arena, marking the program’s first win against a team from a Power 5 conference. In 2018, he led the team to a win over Miami, Fla. – the program’s first Power 5 win on the road, and the Eagles followed in 2019 with a neutral location win over the Hurricanes in a straight set.

#FEEDFGCU

FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to help the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), the FGCU Athletics charities. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and use the hashtag #FeedFGCU to raise awareness.

ABOUT FGCU

FGCU teams have come together to win an incredible 85 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of DI postseason eligibility, the Eagles have combined 42 teams or individuals to compete in NCAA championships. Eight FGCU programs have achieved a national top 25 placement in their respective sport – including women’s basketball (No. 21, 2020-21), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2021) and both men’s football (2018, 2019) and women’s football ( 2018) as three of the youngest. In 2016-17, the Greens and Blues achieved a division-top sixth place in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors’ Cup and the top 100 finishes nationally, ahead of several Power 5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and Florida State’s top seven teams that received the NCAA’s Public Recognition Award for their rate of academic progression in their sport. The FGCU also hit an overall classroom record of 3.50 GPA in the fall semester of 2020, outperforming the general university student population for 24 consecutive semesters. Another milestone was reached in autumn 2019, spring 2020, autumn 2020 and spring 2021, as all 15 programs each achieved a team GPA of 3.0 or higher. The Eagles also did 7,200 all-time volunteer hours in 2017 and were recognized as one of two runners-up for the Fiesta Bowl’s first ever NACDA Community Service Award.

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