FGCU Volleyball vs Bethune-Cookman Recap: Match 1

The FGCU volleyball team (8-5) continued on their 11-match road trip with another victory as they swept Bethune-Cookman (2-5) 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-19) for non-conerence play. With the win, the Eagles are now 11-0 against the Wildcats.

Beginning with set one, junior Amanda Carroll began with a quick kill to put the Eagles up 1-0, but the Wildcats would counter with back-to-back kills from freshman Jordan Jefferson before an attack error occurred from freshman Cortney VanLiew. 

The Eagles would get their second point on the board after a block from sophomore Giovanna Borgiotti and junior Sharonda Pickering before Jefferson added one more kill, giving the Wildcats a 4-2 lead.

The Eagles would retie the score to 4-4 after a kill from sophomore Daniele Serrano and a Wildcat ball handling error from senior Phalen Clark, but the Wildcats would retake the lead after back-to-back kills from Jefferson and sophomore Alayna Handy.

With the score 6-4 in favor of the Wildcats, the Eagles would retie the score for the second time after back-to-back kills from Serrano and Carroll before the Wildcats retook the lead for a second time after a kill from senior Rakaya Neely before the Eagles retied the lead for the third time after a Neely service error.

The Wildcats would retake the lead after freshman Alayna Ryan, who subbed in, hit a service error, a service ace from Clark and a kill from Handy for a 10-7 Wildcat lead.

The Eagles would cut the Wildcats lead to two after blocks from Carroll and Pickering. After the Wildcats regain a three-point lead from a Carroll attack error, the Eagles would bring the lead back to two again after a kill from Borgiotti. The score would go back and forth from two and three point leads until the Eagles cut the lead to one point after back-to-back kills from Borgiotti and junior Maggie Rick, but Jefferson brought it back to two points with a kill.

With the score 14-12 still in favor of BCU, the Eagles would retie the lead after back-to-back kills from Serrano and Carroll. The Wildcats would briefly take a one point lead after a kill from Handy until kills from Carroll and a Handy attack error gave the Eagles a 17-15 lead. 

The Wildcats would retie the lead after another Ryan service error and a Handy kill, but the Eagles would regain the lead after a kill from Carroll and a service ace from Rick for a 19-17 Eagle lead.

After a Wildcat timeout, Borgiotti and Pickering got another block to make it 20-17 before another Handy kill made 20-18 FGCU, but another block from Pickering and Carroll occurred before a kill from freshman Micaiah Hill made it 21-19 FGCU. After another attack error from Jefferson, BCU called their final timeout of the set.

After the timeout, the Wildcats would score another point after Neely kill, but a kill from Serrano kept the Eagles lead to three. While Rick got another kill, Handy added back-to-back kills before the Eagles called timeout.

After the Eagles timeout, Handy would hit a service error, giving the Eagles the first set.

Going into the second set, after a block from Pickering and Borgiotti and a Rick service error, the Eagles would pick up back-to-back kills from Carroll and Pickering before a Carroll service ace, but but a Jefferson kill and a service error from junior J'Nai Higgins cut the lead to 4-3 before the Eagles took advantage of a Higgins service error making it 5-3. The Wildcats would add another kill from Neely before back-to-back kills came from Serrano and VanLiew.

VanLiew would then cause an attack error before bouncing back with a kill to make it 8-5 before Handy made it 8-6 after a kill. After a Handy service error, back-to-back Eagle kills came from Pickering and Carroll again before a kill from junior Meraiah Hill made it 11-7 FGCU.

The Eagles would score six straight points off of kills from Carroll and Pickering, an ace from rick and blocks from Pickering and Borgiotti made it 17-7 FGCU before BCU used both timeouts.

After the final timeout, the Wildcats would add another point after a Borgiotti attack error, but an attack error from senior Jessica Emile and a kill from VanLiew kept the Wildcats in single digits. After another Wildcat kill from Handy and a Eagle kill from Pickering, Jefferson would put the Wildcats in double-digits for the second set before Borgiotti added another Eagle kill.

After back-to-back attack errors occurred from Handy and junior Kaitlin Krivdo, a kill from freshman Faith Landreneaux made it 22-12 for the Eagles. A kill from Serrano and Handy made it 23-13 in favor of the Eagles, and they would take the second set after a Pickering kill and a bad set from Clark.

Going into the third and final set, Carroll started with a kill and a service ace to give the Eagles a quick 2-0 lead, but back-to-back kills from sophomore Miranda White and an attack error from redshirt freshman Ciara DeBell gave the Wildcats a brief 3-2 lead. The Eagles would retake the lead after a kill from VanLiew and a ball handling error before a service error from junior Karissa Rhoades made it 4-4. After back-to-back kills from Carroll and VanLiew and an attack error from Jefferson, Jefferson would get another Wildcat kill before Serrano would get another Eagle kill.

After a VanLiew service error, Serrano would get another Eagle kill before a Landreneaux kill and a Carroll error made it 9-8 still in favor of FGCU, but a Carroll kill and a block from Pickering and DeBell made it 11-8. After a Jefferson kill and a Pickering attack error, Carroll would get another kill before Jefferson got a Wildcat kill before VanLiew added another Eagle kill.

The Wildcats would regain the lead briefly a Neely kill and back-to-back attack errors from Pickering and VanLiew before a White service error and a Handy attack error gave the Eagles back their lead before a VanLiew attack error retied the score.

After back-to-back kills from Rick and Carroll, a attack error from Carroll, and back-to-back Wildcat attack errors from Clark and Handy, back-to-back Wildcat kills came from Landreneaux and Handy, cutting the Eagle lead to one point. After four straight Eagle points from a Rick kill, a Carroll block and two Carroll kills gave the Eagles a 23-18 lead, a Landreneaux kill made it 23-19 FGCU, but it would not be very effective as a Clark ball-handling error and VanLiew kill sealed the final set for the Eagles.

"I thought Karissa (Rhoades) came back from what I thought was a subpar first set to have a great night defensively. I challenged her and she rose to that and other people caught on," said head coach Matt Botsford. "Amanda (Carroll) again had a great night; to hit at that kind of efficiency when people know you're going to get the ball is very difficult. Outside of that, GioGio (Borgiotti) added another element on the right side."

Carroll lead the way with 17 kills, three blocks, two aces, and six digs

Serrano was second with eight kills. 

Rick finished with 32 assists, four kills, two aces, and six digs.

Borgiotti finished with three kills, four blocks and a dig.

VanLiew finished with seven kills and seven digs.

Rhoades also added 16 digs to go with her five assists.

Ryan had two digs.

Pickering finished with five kills and eight blocks.

Debell had one block and one dig. 

Freshman Snowy Burnam had one dig. 

Lone senior Courtney Stephens had five digs.

Defensively, the Eagles had 16 total blocks and 44 digs.

For the Wildcats, Handy lead the way offensively with a double-double of 12 kills and 10 digs

Jefferson also had a double-double of 10 kills and 12 digs, along with two assists.

Clark had 32 assists, one ace, one block and five digs.

Landreneaux had four kills, one block and one dig.

Neely had five kills, two blocks and three digs.

Senior Rechez Lindsay had 13 digs.

Higgins had one assist, one ace and five digs.

White had two kills, one assist and two digs.

Micaiah Hill and Meraiah Hill had one kill each. Meraiah added one dig.

"It definitely wasn't the outcome we wanted, but for three days of effort going against a strong team like FGCU, I'm proud of the effort," said Bethune head coach Brittany Williams. "If we could have had the perfect effort, it's something I would have been satisfied with. For most of that match, we had that perfect. If we can get a week of practice under our belts, we'll be fine once conference starts."

"Alana came out strong, and Jordan had a double-double again. Proud of the outside hitters. Neely's a game changer when she's in the there. Rechez is not scared of the ball and is playing solid defense," Williams added.

The Eagles continue their 11-match road trip as they prepare for conference play beginning with Stetson on Saturday at 3 P.M.

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