FGCU VB: Homewood Suites Fort Myers/FGCU Classic Preview

After playing their first six matches of the season on the road, the FGCU volleyball team (4-2) opens their first three matches at home as they host the Homewood Suites Fort Myers/FGCU Classic in the Alico Arena on Friday Sept. 7 and Saturday Sept 8. The Eagles welcome Albany University (1-5), Western Illinois (1-5), and Power 5 Conference member West Virginia (2-4) to the tournament. This will be the first time FGCU will play the three teams and the second Power 5 Conference team on their schedule

Last Time Out:
The Eagles began their season finishing 2-1 with a split winning 3-0 against FAU and a 1-3 loss to UCF before shutting out Miami 3-0 for their second win against a Power 5 Conference school. Recently, the Eagles competed in the Lobo Classic where they went 2-1 to wrap up their six-game road trip splitting the first day by shutting New Mexico State 3-0 and falling 1-3 to host New Mexico before wrapping up their portion with a 3-0 shutout over Eastern Kentucky.

What It Do VanLiew?:
Sophomore Cortney VanLiew has been on a hot streak since being back in the starting lineup. The Seymour native had another impressive showing as she finished with 30 kills, 23 digs, three assists and an ace in the Lobo Classic. VanLiew leads the team with 83 kills.

Oh Captain My Captain:
While taking freshman Chelsea Lockey under her wing, senior setter Maggie Rick remains on point in the assist category. The Alpharetta native had 64 assists in the Lobo Classic and has 138 so far this season. During the Lobo Classic, Rick moved past Kayla Weller (3,789, Stetson, 2012-15) for ninth-most in A-SUN history.

On the program side, Rick currently has 3,823 career assists (2nd all-time) and is 586 away from passing Gigi Meyer (4,408) for most all-time.

Mrs. Aces Folded:
Senior Amanda Carroll was stopped during the second match against New Mexico in the Lobo Classic in her hometown due to a knee injury. Carroll had 10 kills, five digs and a block in the tournament prior to the injury. No timetable is set on when she will return or if she will be ready for the Homewood Suites Fort Myers/FGCU Classic. Carroll currently has 41 kills in her name this season.

Block Party:
Once again, the Block Party (seniors Sharonda Pickering and Kaiti Krivdo, juniors Daniele "Dani" Serrano and Giovanna "Giogio" Borgiotti, sophomore Snowy Burnam, and freshman Tori Morris) have been on a roll on the defensive side. The squad had a combined total of 52 blocks in the tournament and 85 overall.

Speaking of Serrano, she was recently named A-SUN Defensive Player of the Week for her performance in the Lobo Classic. This was her second accolade earned in her career. Currently Serrano has compiled 28 blocks and 32 kills this year. During the Lobo Classic, she was named on the All-Lobo Classic Team.

Swinging the Ax:
Freshman libero Dana Axner remains in tact as a strong part of the defense. The Dublin, Ohio native currently has 83 digs and had 43 digs in the Lobo Classic. Axner was named A-SUN Freshman of the Week for the second straight week after her performance in the Lobo Classic.

Shutouts and Continuing:
With the shutouts against New Mexico State and Eastern Kentucky, the Eagles now have a total of 182 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, entering his fifth season, is only nine wins away from reaching 100 wins and 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 FGCU was an NCAA DII independent school at the time. The second head coach, Dave Nichols, was shy of reaching 100 as he finished with 99 wins.

Currently, Botsford has 93 wins overall, so more than likely, he will get to 100 wins.

Scouting Albany:
The Great Danes recently wrapped up playing in the Black Knights Invitational, hosted by Army West Point. They would secure their only win so far by defeating Southeastern Louisiana 3-2 before falling 2-3 to host Army and shutout 0-3 by Hofstra.

Redshirt junior Akuabata Okenwa leads the team with 56 kills and ties the lead in blocks (12). Okenwa had 35 kills in the BK Invitational.

Not too far behind is sophomore Danielle Tedesco. Tedesco has 43 kills and a team-leading 10 aces. In the BK Invitational, Tedesco had 26 kills.

Scouting Western Illinois:
The Leathernecks, under new head coach Ben Staupe, recently competed in the Bradley Invitational. They lost all three games to host Bradley (1-3), George Washington (2-3) and Toledo (0-3). With the three losses, the Leathernecks are on a five-game losing streak.

Senior Melanie Patenaude and sophomore Emma Norris lead the way offensively.

Patenaude currently leads the team in kills (66) and aces (9). Patenaude had 28 kills in the Bradley Invitational.

Norris currently has 50 kills while playing off the bench. Norris had 24 kills in the Bradley Invitational.

Defensively, redshirt sophomore Mackenzie Steckler leads the team in blocks (31) to go along with her 33 kills. Steckler had 19 kills and 16 blocks in the Bradley Invitational.

Scouting West Virginia:
The Mountaineers recently competed in the Brigham Young Nike Invitational. They would fall in all three games, getting shutout 0-3 to host #9 BYU, 1-3 to Wichita State and shutout 0-3 to #1 Stanford.

Freshman Kristin Lux and junior Katelyn Evans lead the way offensively. Lux currently leads the team in kills (51) and aces (4). In the BYU Invitational, Lux had 24 kills. Evans is second on the team in kills (50). Evans had 22 kills at the BYU Invitational.

Defensively, sophomore Katie Demeo and Kristina Jordan lead the way 26 blocks. Demeo also has 25 kills while Jordan has 24 kills.

Demeo had five kills and eight blocks while Jordan had four kills and 11 blocks in the invitational.

Breakdown:
On day one of the tournament, Albany will face Western Illinois at 11 AM to begin the tournament. Western Illinois will then remain on the court and face West Virginia at 3 PM before Albany returns to the court to face FGCU at 7 PM.

On day two, FGCU will open against Western Illinois at 10:30 AM. West Virginia will then follow as they play Albany at 1 PM before remaining on the court to face FGCU at 7 PM.

Promotions:
In the game against Albany, it will be dubbed as a Greenout, so marketing is encouraging students and fans to wear green to the game.

Against Western Illinois, no specific color out is dubbed, so it's freelance.

In the game against West Virginia, it will be dubbed as a Whiteout as marketing is encouraging students and fans to wear white to that game.

Other promotions are the following:
1. Magnet and Poster Night (free at the marketing table)- vs Albany
2. Dirty Bird Gear (sign up or get your gear)- All three matches
3. Poster Signing (post-game with the players)- vs Albany
4. Breakfast of Champions (free Dunkin' Donuts and juice for the first 100 at the marketing table)- vs Western Illinois
5. Sign Contest (prizes to best Eagles fan signs)- vs WVU

For the games not against FGCU, it is freelance to attend. I did that before and nothing too exciting happened with the exception a big dig or something like that.

How to Stay Updated:
Five of the games will be on livestream on Facebook Live. The game between FGCU and West Virginia will air on ESPN+. The app costs $4.99 a month to watch all A-SUN games.

Livestats will be available for fans that are unable to watch or attend the game.

Fans can also follow the respected teams on Twitter for updates:
FGCU: @FGCU_VB

Albany: @UAlbanyVB

Western Illinois: @WIUVolleyball

West Virginia: @WVUVolleyball