Last night, FGCU played FIU (0-3) last night and won 3-0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-23). GSU (1-2) also played FIU with a 3-0 win (26-24, 26-24, 25-19), but lost to IUPUI (2-1) 1-3 (20-25, 27-25, 20-25, 21-25).
Fast forward to this morning where FGCU and GSU began the second day of the invitational. Despite the inclement weather going around with a lot of rain on the forecast. Actually, the attendance was pretty good for an early morning game. There were almost 400 people in the arena (396 to be exact).
To recap, this is the second time FGCU and GSU played each other. Last time both teams met was in 2015 where FGCU was victorious in a 3-2 nail biter of a match at GSU. So you could say this was a rematch in the "Battle of the Eagles".
The match started off with an GSU attack error from freshman outside hitter Skylar Ball and an ace from freshman outside hitter Cortney VanLiew, but GSU would counter with back-to-back kills from redshirt senior right side hitter Megan Chevalier and senior outside hitter Anna Wenger to tie the match before a back and forth matchup after kills from FGCU's sophomore middle blocker Danielle Serrano and Wenger.
Fast forward to before GSU's first timeout used. FGCU was ahead 11-7 after a GSU ball handling error from junior setter April Luther and back-to-back FGCU kills from VanLiew, but the kills did not stop after the GSU timeout.
After an FGCU service error from lone senior libero Courtney Stephens and a GSU service error from senior outside hitter Catherine Murray, four straight kills came from Serrano, VanLiew and junior outside hitter Amanda Carroll before GSU used their final timeout.
Despite back-to-back kills from Chevalier, FGCU kept fighting. Fast forward again to the final three points with FGCU ahead 22-16, FGCU won the first set after three straight kills from Serrano, Carroll and junior setter Maggie Rick.
In the second set, with the score 6-5 in favor of FGCU, freshman outside hitter Snowy Burnam made her on court debut and subbed in for sophomore outside hitter Giovanna Borgiotti. After a service error from freshman libero Landon Jones and back and forth attack errors from both teams, VanLiew had no problem adding another kill to bring the lead 9-7 for FGCU. After a kill from Murrary, Serrano set the tone with five straight kills for FGCU.
Going into the final set point, VanLiew secured the final point with a kill to give FGCU the second set.
The crowd of Dirty Birds in the stands was pretty lively to say the least, although we couldn't say "Let's go Eagles" because GSU's mascot was also the Eagles.
Now reaching the third set and the last chance for GSU to get on the board, this time GSU started with the first two points after an attack error from Carroll and a kill from Wenger. It didn't take long for FGCU to catch up after another kill from Serrano and a GSU attack error from Murray.
After a brief lead from GSU, FGCU took control for the rest of the set.
With the score 5-5, junior college transfer middle blocker Sharonda Pickering, made her on court debut and got her first kill of her career at FGCU to give FGCU the lead again. Now all four newcomers made their debuts.
Nearing the end of the final set, with the score 22-13, redshirt freshman Morgan Waller made her on-court debut after missing the whole season last year with a knee injury. Carroll would finish the final set with one last kill and shut GSU out.
"We played really well at times, especially in the first set. They are a really good team. They put a lot of pressure on us, which created more opportunities for them. They made a run on us in the middle of the set, and if you take that run out, we are pushing to win that set," said GSU head coach Dustin Wood.
VanLiew led the team with 13 kills and had two aces, two blocks and five digs.
Carroll and Serrano had 11 kills each. Carroll had one block, one ace and seven digs while Serrano had two blocks and dig.
Rick had four kills, 37 assists, one ace and two digs.
Junior libero Karissa Rhaodes had three assists and 10 digs.
From the remaining newcomers, Pickering had one kill and two blocks while Burnam had four kills, two assists and a block.
For GSU, Wenger led the team with 10 kills and one block.
Luther had 12 assists and six digs.
Junior libero Joscelin Morrow had a team leading 11 digs.
IUPUI played against FIU later. The Panthers gave the Jaguars a good run for their money, but ultimately, it wasn't enough in the end as IUPUI ended up winning 3-2 (13-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-21, 15-10).
"It was good to see how we dealt with adversity, being down zero sets to two. The girls fought hard to come back for the win," IUPUI Head Coach Steve Payne said. "Once again, our blocking helped us tremendously throughout the match, as did the defensive digging of Jess Helms with 36 digs."
Three Jaguars each had a double-double each:
Senior right side hitter Kori Waelbroeck led the charge for the Jaguars with a double-double of 19 kills and 12 digs while adding two aces, three assists and three blocks.
Junior setter Maggie Gibson had a double-double of 51 assists and 10 blocks to go with her six kills and six digs.
Sophomore defensive specialist McKayla Wright had a double-double of 13 kills and 15 digs to go with her two blocks and two assists.
Junior middle blocker Abby Boatman had 10 kills and nine blocks.
For FIU, junior outside hitter Taija Thomas led the offensive charge with 17 kills, four aces, seven digs and a block.
Junior outside hitter Margherita Bianchin had a double-double of 14 kills and 22 digs, five assists, one ace and a block.
Freshman setter Molly Feldmeth had a triple-double in her own right (10 kills, 46 assists and 15 digs).
Senior middle blocker Jennifer Ene had 12 kills.
Junior outside hitter Sheyanne Sullivan had 3 kills and a team-leading 20 digs.
Sophomore libero Helene Thelle had 18 digs and two assists.
Now that FIU (0-3) and GSU (1-2) finished their three matches, it was now down to one more match between FGCU and IUPUI. There were 794 people that showed up for the game. The last time FGCU and IUPUI played each other was in 2013 where the Jaguars were victorious with a 3-0 shutout, but his time, it was different and the tables turned.
Rick started off with a kill for the first point, but senior outside hitter Gabby Fisher tied the match with a kill of her own before back-to-back kills from Serrano and Carroll made it 3-1 for FGCU.
After a service from Rhoades, Carroll would bounce back and add another kill.
Going into the final four points of the first set, with FGCU ahead 22-21, Burnam would get back-to-back kills. Serrano would follow with another kill before freshman outside hitter Alayna Ryan secured the final point with an ace to give FGCU the first set.
In the second set, IUPUI looked to take control. After going back and forth to a tie at 2-2, the Jaguars took a big lead after kills from Wright, Waelbroeck and Boatman and an attack error from VanLiew before FGCU called a timeout to recuperate another strategy.
With the score 9- 4, in favor or the Jaguars, the Eagles took advantage of a Jaguar service error from Wright and scored back-to-back kills from Carroll and Borgiotti to tie the match, but the Jaguars continued to extend the lead. After a kill from Waelbroeck, FGCU took the lead back after kills from Carroll, Serrano and junior right side hitter Kaiti Krivdo and an attack error from sophomore middle blocker Haley Hoffman before it returned to a brief tie after a Rhoades' service error and a brief back and forth match up until Borgiotti extended FGCU's lead to 19-17 after another kill.
Near the end of the second set, FGCU would win after kills from Carroll and Borgiotti.
After halftime, the third set was no different than the first and second. It was the same thing with back and forth ties and lead changes until the score was 5-5. After a service error from Boatman, Pickering and Borgiotti would block Boatman from getting the kill before Borgiotti and Burnam got kills of their own. From there, FGCU secured the final set and won the match after a final Borgiotti kill.
"This morning against Georgia Southern, I thought we played really well," Botsford said. "Considering where we are in the season, that was a nice thing to see. This evening with IUPUI, we knew we were going to get a team that would be aggressive at the service line, so it was a different match. It had a more offensive feel to it. There was some distinct difference between the two matches and the style of play, but we were pleased with each."
Carroll led the offense with a double-double of a team-leading 23 kills and 13 digs.
Rick had four kills, 40 assists and five digs.
Rhoades had five assists and 18 digs.
Serrano and Borgiotti had eight kills each with Serrano having one dig and one assist while Borgiotti had one block and 11 digs.
Pickering had one kill, three blocks and a dig.
Burnam had five kills, three digs and two blocks.
For IUPUI, Waelbroeck had 14 kills, one block and eight digs.
"It was great to come down here and get two wins under our belt," Waelbroeck said. "It was a tough loss to FGCU, but we learned a lot from how we responded being down against a strong team. We had some great competition down here and I'm excited to get back in the gym and work on everything we identified that needs fixing from this weekend."
Wright had seven kills, two assists, one ace and nine digs.
Gibson had two kills, 28 assists, three blocks and six digs.
"We played FGCU very tough for the first two sets with very good passing. We were tight the whole way and just made a few small mistakes that hopefully we can correct here in the future," Payne said. "Kori had a good offensive weekend to earn a spot on the All-Tournament Team."
Carroll, Rick and Rhoades were named on the team to represent FGCU. Carroll was named the MVP of the tournament.
Waelbroeck represented IUPUI.
Reichard represented GSU and Bianchin represented FIU, but were not in attendance after completing their matches and departed.
So to break down everything from the whole tournament, this is what happened:
1. FGCU won the Hilton Garden Inn Invitational.
2. FGCU is now 7-5 overall against FIU for now until the September 19th match at FIU, tied 1-1 against IUPUI and 2-0 against GSU.
3. Carroll had 51 kills combined from all three matches.
4. All 13 of FGCU's players played at least one set and one match throughout the tournament.
FGCU will continue their homestead next Friday with the Homewood Suites Sunshine State Classic. The teams featured are all from Florida: University of Central Florida (UCF), Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and the Miami.
FAU will play UCF at 10 A.M and Miami at 4:30 P.M before FGCU plays UCF first at 7 P.M. on Friday September 1st. The game against UCF is a Greenout in which marketing encourages fans to wear green to the game.
On September 2nd, FGCU will FAU at 11 A.M., UCF will play Miami at 2 P.M. before FGCU wraps it up playing Miami at 7 P.M.. The game between UM and FGCU is a Blueout, so marketing is encouraging fans to wear blue for the game.
Tune in for the next blog as I will give the game preview of the tournament and on our opponents we are playing.
I did manage to get a few photos with the Hilton Garden Inn Invitational All-Tournament MVP: Amanda Carroll
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