FGCU Volleyball: Hoosier Classic Update

After being on the road for two straight weeks due to Hurricane Irma, the FGCU volleyball team set their sites for their next three matches. The Eagles (7-4) recently completed in the Wildcat Classic where they shutout Wofford 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-18) and beat host Davidson in a nail biter by a score of 3-2 (23-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-12, 15-11) before being shutout by Georgia 0-3 (20-25, 15-25, 23-25).

Fast forward to this weekend, the Eagles traveled to Indiana to compete in the Hoosier Classic hosted by the University of Indiana. FGCU was one of four teams in the tournament. Aside from host Indiana, joining FGCU on the road included Samford University and UNLV.

On Friday, FGCU faced Samford (3-9) first and shut the Bulldogs out 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-20).

Junior outside hitter Amanda Carroll led the team with 10 kills and added two blocks, one assist and three digs.

Freshman outside hitter Cortney VanLiew had eight kills and eight digs.

Carroll, VanLiew and freshman defensive specialist Alayna Ryan each had three services aces. Ryan added a dig to the stat sheet.

Junior setter Maggie Rick had 27 assists and added one kill, one ace and four digs.

Senior defensive specialist Courtney Stephens had one assist, one ace and seven digs.

Junior libero Karissa Rhoades had two assists and 13 digs.

Sophomore middle blocker Dani Serrano had six kills, one ace and two digs.

Junior middle blocker Sharonda Pickering added three kills and sophomore outside hitter Giovanna Borgiotti came off the bench and added six kills, one assist and two digs.

Serrano, Pickering and Borgiotti each had two blocks.

Junior right side hitter Kaiti Krivdo added a block as well.

"I was glad to get that match under our belt after what has been a long week," said head coach Matt Botsford. "I was really pleased with the way the team came out in the first set and immediately began applying pressure from the service line. That ended up being a huge factor throughout and got us out of some jams. Karissa (Rhoades) was very steady in serve receive which allowed us to get Gio (Borgiotti) and Dani (Serrano) more involved, providing more balance along the net."

For Samford, Krista Boesing led the team with 15 kills and added three blocks and three digs.

Taylor Anderson had 33 assists, one ace, four blocks, eight digs and one kill.

Grace Tiesman had 11 digs.

Sierra Rayzor had four kills and four blocks.

Kendal Strand had eight kills, one ace, one block and seven digs.

Kelsi Hobbs had six kills, one ace and five digs.

Shayla Phillip had six kills and three digs

FGCU had 10 aces throughout the whole match.

Fast forward to today and FGCU faces their next opponent: the UNLV Rebels.

Both teams faced each other in the past in 2010 with the Rebels coming out victorious.

The Eagles had no problem and shut out the Rebels 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-14).

The duo of Carroll and VanLiew proved to be the factor against UNLV. VanLiew had a team-leading 15 kills while adding eight digs, one assist and three service aces while Carroll had 12 kills, three digs and two service aces.

Rick had 32 assists to go with her two kills, five digs and one block.

Rhoades added six assists, two service aces and 14 digs to the mix.

The block brigade of Serrano (three blocks), Borgiotti (three blocks) and Pickering (two blocks) proved no match for UNLV to try and stop. Serrano added nine kills and a dog, Pickering had two kills and Borgiotti added four kills off the bench.

"While the offensive numbers were outstanding, what I'm most happy with was the defensive effort and execution," stated Matt Botsford, whose team held UNLV to just a .063 attack percentage – more than .050 lower than any other opponent so far this season. "We have talked a lot about needing to raise our level in that area, and the team did exactly that. Cortney (VanLiew) was great, and the way she responded after being pressured by their servers in the middle of the match says a lot about her as a competitor. I thought Courtney Stephens and Karissa Rhoades played a big role in anchoring the floor defense, and the rest of the team followed suit."

For UNLV, no player reached double digits in kills. Ashley Owens had a team leading five kills, two blocks and an ace, Leka Kiner-Falefa had seven digs and Riley Jacobs had three kills, eight assists and two blocks.

"We are definitely showing our inexperience, right now," said UNLV head coach Cindy Fredrick. "Our passing was really poor today, so the offense never got on track. We'll keep working and hopefully take care of some things."

FGCU ousted UNLV in points (56-28), kills (44-21), aces (7-3), blocks (5-4), assists (40-17) and digs (36-23).

Side notes:
1. The shutouts over Samford and UNLV were FGCU's 106th and 107th shutouts since their transition to NCAA DI.

2. Carroll is the third player and second in the Division-I era to reach 1,000 career kills after getting her 1,00th kill against Wofford.

3. Caroll is ranked in the top 20 in the nation in kills per set (4.61: 19th* in the nation).

4. Rick is also ranked in the top 20 in the in assists per set (11.61: 16th* in the nation)

The Hoosiers (10-1) recently lost their first match of the season after losing to Samford ( 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 25-15, 19-25, 15-17).

FGCU will face host Indiana tonight at 7 pm. This is, of course, a rematch from last year between FGCU and Indiana.

On Sept 10th, 2016, both teams faced each other at FGCU with the Eagles coming out victorious after a nail-biting match by a score of 3-2 (25-17, 28-26, 17-25, 22-25, 15-12).

It was also the match where redshirt freshman outside hitter Ciara DeBell, who was freshman at the time, was injured and ruled out for the season with a knee injury. Fortunately, DeBell was able to maintain all four years of eligibility and has returned to play this season.

The match is available livestream, but will cost money unless someone has a subscription to the Big Ten Network of sort. There is also a way to listen to the match as audio only and live stats will be provided.

*as of September 15th. Subject to change.

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