"Consistency is what every coach is looking for this time of year," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "It's early. There's going to be some ups and downs. We saw a little bit of that in our first event at Miami. I'd like to see us shrink those peaks and valleys so it's a little more sustainable. That's really the priority right now."
Last Time Out:
The Eagles are coming off of a strong outing to begin the season after competing in the Sunshine State Challenge. The Eagles would split the first two games shutting out FAU 3-0 and falling 1-3 to UCF, but the biggest moment in the tournament was against Power 5 Conference team and host Miami. In a surprising turn of event, the Eagles shutout the Hurricanes 3-0.
Power 5 Win:
With the win over Miami, this marked the first time the Eagles beat the Hurricanes and the second time in program history they defeated a Power 5 Conference team (First Time vs. Indiana Sept. 10, 2016).
Shutouts:
With the shutouts against FAU and Miami, the Eagles now have a total of 180 total shutouts and counting, including shutouts from 2003-2006 when the Eagles were a NCAA DII team.
Coach 100:
Since being at the helm for the volleyball program, head coach Matt Botsford is entering his fifth season and is only nine wins away from reaching 100 wins while becoming the second FGCU head volleyball coach in program history to reach that milestone.
The inaugural head coach of the volleyball program, Jaye Flood, was the first coach to reach 100 wins. Flood would finish with 103 wins with FGCU, when they were a NCAA DII independent team at the time.
The second head coach, Dave Nichols, was one win shy of reaching 100 as he finished with 99 wins.
What It Do VanLiew?:
Sophomore Cortney VanLiew began the season on a very strong note. The Seymour, Indiana native started on the bench in the game against FAU and got 17 kills. After that, VanLiew started against UCF and Miami and got 16 against the Knights and a career-high 20 against the Hurricanes.
VanLiew currently leads the team in kills (53) and was recently named A-SUN Co-Player of the week with Lipscomb's Carlyle Nusbaum.
Swinging the Ax:
Freshman libero Dana Axner is off to a strong start in the Sunshine State Challenge. Axner currently has 40 digs, including a 20 dig game she had against UCF. Axner was named a A-SUN Freshman of the Week after her performance in the Sunshine State Challenge.
Homeward Bound:
For senior Amanda Carroll, this will be a home advantage for her since the tournament will be hosted in Albuquerque, her hometown.
"Having a chance to play in New Mexico is something we have been working on for a couple years," Botsford said. "I know it means a lot to Amanda, and we really wanted to make sure she got the chance to compete back in Albuquerque."
In the Sunshine State Challenge, Carroll had a total of 31 kills in the tournament. Carroll also had two aces, in which that put her at 2nd all-time in career aces (101), passing A-SUN Hall of Famer and beach volleyball Olympian Brooke Youngquist-Sweat (100). Carroll is 39 away from passing Ana Kokanovic (139) for most career aces.
Record Set:
Senior Maggie Rick has been in sight to pass Gigi Meyer for most career assists (4,408). Rick is currently sitting second all-time with 3,759 career assists and needs 650 for the record.
In addition to her total amount of aces, Carroll is now just three digs away from 1,000 in her career, which would make her the sixth player in program history to accomplish the feat and only the second (Brooke Youngquist Sweat) to join the 1,000/1000 club in kills and digs. She also needs just six more kills to eclipse Katie Plummer (Mercer, 2001-04, 1,390) for eighth-most in A-SUN history.
Block Party:
During the tournament, seniors Sharonda Pickering and Kaitlan "Kaiti" Krivdo, juniors Daniele "Dani" Serrano and Giovanna "Giogio" Borgiotti and sophomore Snowy Burnam have become an elite group known as the Block Party. In addition, there is a new member that joined the group: freshman Tori Morris.
The squad has a combined total of 33 blocks, hence the title "Block Party".
Scouting New Mexico:
This will be the first time the Lobos and the Eagles will play each other.
The Lobos, who are hosting the tournament, began their part of the season in the Idaho Tournament. They would fall in the first two matches losing 2-3 in the opening match to Grand Canyon and shutout by Santa Clara before defeating host Idaho 3-2 in the third match.
Junior Lauren Twitty earned a spot on the Idaho All-Tournament team for her efforts that included 49 kills, 3.77 per set, on the weekend.
Fellow junior Tai Bierria, a transfer from Memphis, is not far behind Twitty as she is second in kills (35).
Scouting New Mexico State:
Like their interstate rival, the Aggies opened their season on the road in the Sun Devil Volleyball Classic. The Aggies began with a split on day one as they defeated The University of the Pacific 3-1 and fell 0-3 to host Arizona State before wrapping up the tournament with a 3-0 win over UT-Arlington.
Redshirt freshman Savannah Davison leads the team with 29 kills.
Defensively, redshirt sophomore Ashley Anselmo has 15 kills and leads the team with 13 blocks.
This will be the second time both teams play each other. The first time FGCU and New Mexico State played was in 2008 where the Eagles were shutout by the Aggies in the Hotel Encanto Volleyball Classic.
Scouting Eastern Kentucky:
Like New Mexico, this will also be the first time FGCU and EKU play each other.
The Colonels recently competed in the Penn State Invitational. They would lose 0-3 in all three matches to host #6 Penn State, Navy, and UMBC.
Offensively, senior Cassie Knutson and sophomore Lindsey Wilkins pave the way. Knutson leads the team in kills (25) while Wilkins is second (23).
Defensively, junior Kaylin Johnson leads the team in blocks (8).
Breakdown:
This is a two-day tournament.
On day one, FGCU will begin the tournament at 12:30 PM ET. EKU will then face host New Mexico at 2:45 (ET) before facing New Mexico State at 7:15 (ET) FGCU will close out day one by facing New Mexico at 9:30 PM (ET).
For day two, FGCU will face EKU at 1PM (ET) to wrap up their portion of the tournament before host New Mexico closes the tournament with their Rio Grande Rivalry game against New Mexico State at 3 PM (ET).
How to Keep Up:
Livestats will be available for all six games and livestream will also be available. For the most part, the livestream is free on Golobos.com.
Radio station 91.5 FM KRUX in New Mexico will also be providing audio for people that are unable to watch or attend the match. People can listen to it in their cars or on the link below.
Fans can also keep themselves updated from teams' Twitter accounts:
FGCU: @FGCU_VB
New Mexico: @UNMLoboVB
New Mexico State: @NMStateVBall
Eastern Kentucky: @EKUVolleyball
Link to livestream video(s):
https://golobos.com/watch/?Live=4448&type=Live
Link to audio stream:
https://tunein.com/radio/KRUX-915-s35170/
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