FGCU VB: Lobo Classic Recap- Day One

The FGCU volleyball team (3-2) opened Friday with a 3-0 shutout (25-20, 25-12, 25-22) win over New Mexico State, but fell 1-3 (23-25, 25-10, 23-25, 18-25) to host New Mexico in the nightcap of the Lobo Classic after losing senior outside hitter Amanda Carroll to a knee injury early in the match.

"I was really proud of our team and how they dealt with adversity and found ways to win points in tonight's match," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "There was a couple of situations in those sets where it was starting to get away from us, but we found a way to get back into it through serving, blocking…we found different ways. I think offensively it was a bit of a struggle except Dani, who was exceptional. We need some players to step up and find ways to terminate for us more consistently."

FGCU vs New Mexico State:
In the opening match against New Mexico State, senior Sharonda Pickering recorded a career-high nine kills to pace FGCU's offense. Pickering's nine kills topped her previous career-high of six, which was set against Davidson on Sept. 9 last year.

Freshman Dana Axner also had a fine start to her collegiate career with a match-high 16 digs. Axner finished four shy of tying her season-high in digs and also recorded her third double-digit effort over four matches.

In front of her hometown crowd for the first time in her collegiate career, Carroll opened the scoring for the Eagles with a back row kill. She went on to finish with eight kills, three digs and one block assist.

In producing that line, Carroll reached 1,000 digs in her career, which makes her the sixth player in program history to accomplish the feat. Along with her 1,393 kills through the first match, she also joined Brooke Youngquist Sweat (1,173 kills, 1,369 digs from 2004-07) in becoming one of just two players in program history with at least 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs. Carroll also surpassed Katie Plummer (1,390, Mercer, 2001-04) for the eighth-most kills in A-SUN history.

Aiding the offensive flow was senior Maggie Rick and freshman Chelsey Lockey, who combined for 37 assists. Rick's match-high 22 assists, along with adding six digs and two kills, was her 99th career 20-assist performance in 101 attempts.

FGCU vs New Mexico:
In the match against host New Mexico, Lockey and Rick each tied for the team-high in assists. Rick also added a team-high 12 digs to produce her second double-double of the season.

With her ninth assist, Rick moved past Kayla Weller (3,789, Stetson, 2012-15) for ninth-most in A-SUN history.

After Carroll left with her injury in the opening set, FGCU rallied to take a 23-21 lead, but the Lobos finished the set with four straight points. The Eagles bounced back by scoring four of the first five in the second set and went on a 6-0 run midway through to open up an 18-7 lead before easily tying the match.

In the third set, New Mexico opened up a 16-7 lead before FGCU started chipping away. They scored seven of the next eight points, but still trailed 23-17 late. A service error from the Lobos then spurred a 4-0 run that included a pair of aces from sophomore Alayna Ryan. Down 24-21, junior Giovanna "Giogio" Borgiotti and sophomore Cortney VanLiew produced back-to-back kills, but a service error ended the set.

The final set had the Lobos score six of the first eight points and lead throughout. The Eagles did pull within 21-18 following a kill from Rick, but the host team scored the final four points of the match.

Offensively, VanLiew had a team-high 11 kills, while Snowy Burnam added eight. Borgiotti and junior Daniele Serrano had seven apiece.

Outside of Lockey and Rick, Axner had a season-high five assists along with nine digs.

Ryan led the team with three aces, while Serrano had two solo blocks and eight block assists. Burnam also added five blocks.

Other Games:
The Aggies defeated EKU 3-2. EKU would then get shutout 3-0 by host New Mexico following their game against New Mexico State.

Quotes From Other Coaches:
New Mexico State: "We have a lot to iron out and a lot to figure out," head coach Mike Jordan said. "[With Savannah Davison] there were a lot of bright moments and a lot of tragic moments. She just need to do a better job of managing the game"

New Mexico: "I thought overall the numbers were good," said head coach Jeff Nelson. "I would have liked to have seen us block a little better, but other than that, I thought Tai had a really good game. I thought Mercedes  had a really good game; serving-wise, she looked really good. Carly, after game one, she really bounced back and had some nice swings to finish the match with good numbers.  We need her to do that.  She's big and she can really rip the ball on the right side. It was nice to see her recover and play well at the end of the match."

Up Next:
The Eagles wrap up their portion of the tournament against Eastern Kentucky at 1 p.m. ET.