FGCU Volleyball: Hoosier Classic Update 2

As the Hoosier Classic is wrapped up, the rematch between FGCU and Indiana came down to a nail biter, but the Hoosiers would come out victorious and clip the Eagles 3-2 (25-15, 23-25, 25-21, 22-25, 10-15). A really close match, but a good one nonetheless.

Redshirt sophomore Kendall Beerman had a double-double of a team-leading 19 kills and 11 digs. Beerman also added two assists, two blocks and two aces.

Sophomore Victoria Brisack had 50 assists, two kills, one ace, two digs and two blocks.

Freshman Bayli Lebo had 14 digs, two assists and one ace.

Junior Elizabeth Asdell had 11 kills, two digs and five blocks.

Sophomore Deyshia Lofton had nine kills, one assist, one ace, two digs and six blocks.

Sophomore Hayden Huybers had eights kills, one assist, one dig and three blocks.

Sophomore Meaghan Koors had 12 digs and an ace.

Off the Hoosier bench, senior Jessica Leish had four kills and a dig and junior Samantha Fogg had two assists, one ace and six digs.

"Our resiliency was really good tonight," IU head coach Sherry Dunbar-Kruzan said. "We got thumped in the first set and you wonder how a young team is going to respond. I could not have asked them to respond better. We played 10 sets today and we probably played our best set in the 10th set today."

For FGCU, junior Amanda Carroll had a double-double of 27 kills (three shy from tying her career high) and 18 digs. Carroll also added two assists and five blocks in the match.

Freshman Cortney VanLiew also had a double-double of 14 kills and 13 digs, along with one ace.

Sophomore Giovanna Borgiotti had 11 kills and two digs.

Junior Maggie Rick had 51 assists, six kills, five digs and one block.

Sophomore Dani Serrano had five kills, one dig and four blocks.

Junior Sharonda Pickering had three kills and two blocks.

Junior Karissa Rhoades had four assists, one ace and six digs.

Off the bench, senior Courtney Stephens had three assists, one ace and eight digs.

"That was an exciting match to be a part of and I loved the way our players competed," Botsford said. "They were all so engaged in what was happening out there and invested in every point. Amanda (Carroll) did a great job all night and was so reliable in key moments both attacking and in serve receive. That MVP award was well-deserved. Another big impact in the match was the play of Gio (Borgiotti). She was generating a lot of offense on the right side and I loved how aggressive she was being in key moments."

With that being said for all four teams, the records in the tournament along with their overall records are as noted:

1. Indiana (2-1 tournament, 11-1 overall)

2. FGCU (2-1 tournament, 7-5 overall)

3. Samford (2-1 tournament, 5-9 overall

4. UNLV (0-3 tournament, 4-9 overall)

At the end of the tournament, the All-Tournament Team was announced:

Representing Indiana was Deyshia Lofton and Kendall Beerman.

Representing FGCU was Dani Serrano, Maggie Rick and Amanda Carroll.

Representing UNLV was Elsa Descamps.

Representing Samford was Taylor Andertgon.

Where do all four teams move on after the tournament? The answer: Conference play.

Indiana remains at home and starts Big Ten conference play against Illinois, Samford will begin Southern Conference (SOCON) play at home against The Citadel and UNLV will begin Mountain West Conference play away against Wyoming.

FGCU will continue with non-conference play before conference. They will play Bethune-Cookman University at Bethune. Originally, FGCU was suppose to play FIU at FIU, but the match was postponed due to Hurricane Irma. It is unknown whether they will reschedule the match.

After playing Bethune, the Eagles will begin A-SUN Conference play on the road against Stetson (Sept. 23rd 3 pm), Kennesaw (Sept. 29th 7 pm) and Lipscomb (Sept. 30th 5 pm).

After a strong showing in non-conference, FGCU looked like they had the toughest schedule this season, but when the going gets tough, you got to get tougher.