Last Time Out:
The Eagles began their part of conference play in Jacksonville as they shutout both Jacksonville and UNF.
Offensively, sophomore Cortney VanLiew had 20 kills in last weekend's straight-set win over North Florida as she eclipsed 500 for her career and now sits at 505, which is the 10th most in the program's Division-I era. VanLiew currently leads the team with 197 kills and 12 aces.
Ms. 4,000:
Senior Maggie Rick currently has 343 assists this and was the second setter in program history to reach 4,000 career assists (first: Gigi Meyer: 4,408). In fact, Rick (4,028) is on pace to surpass Meyer for most all-time in career assists. In the series in Jacksonville, Rick had 41 assists.
Block Party:
The Block Party (seniors Pickering and Kaiti Krivdo, juniors Daniele "Dani" Serrano and Giovanna "Giogio" Borgiotti, sophomore Snowy Burnam, and freshman Tori Morris) have lead the way in blocks. The squad have a combined 188 blocks this season. In Jacksonville, the Block Party had 23 blocks in Jacksonville (7 @ JU, 16 @ UNF).
Swinging the Ax:
Freshman Dana Axner has been hot this season. The Dublin, Ohio native already set a DI program-record 39 digs and a season-high seven assists in a five-set match against West Virginia and was recently named the A-SUN Freshman of the week after her 23 dig performance in Jacksonville. Axner has 215 digs (4.39 per set), along with 58 assists and nine aces.
Entering his fifth season head coach Matt Botsford closes in on getting his 100th win. The matches against JU and UNF were his 97th and 98th wins, and if the Eagles get wins 99 and 100 for Botsford, he will be the second FGCU head volleyball coach in the program's history to reach 100 wins (Jaye Flood, 103).
Scouting NJIT:
The Highlanders are led by senior libero Adriana Nieto, who leads the A-SUN in total digs (288) and digs per set (5.33). She was one of three non-FGCU players on this year's preseason all-conference team.
NJIT's lone wins came against Delaware State on Sept. 1 and its most recent outing against Fairleigh Dickinson on Sept. 25 – both in four sets.
Series History:
Against the Highlanders, the Eagles are 6-0 overall. Last time, the Eagles swept the Highlanders at home and away.
Scouting North Alabama:
As noted, this will be the first time FGCU plays North Alabama. The Lions, who compiled an 82-22 record overall and a 47-9 mark in Gulf South Conference play over the past three years to close out their Division-II era, have struggled in the transition to Division-I.
The team's lone wins came against Tennessee State and UNC Asheville in the Chattanooga Classic.
North Alabama has opened A-SUN play with a pair of straight-set losses to Lipscomb and Kennesaw State, and they've dropped 14 straight sets overall dating back to a second set victory over Tennessee Tech on Sept. 7.
As a team, the Lions rank last in the A-SUN in total blocks (61), while FGCU has exactly twice as many (122). In addition, North Alabama averages a conference-worst 11.9 points per set, while the Eagles check in at a conference-best 17.2 points per set.
How to Keep Up:
Both matches will have livestats available and will air livestream. In the match against NJIT, it will air on the Highlander Sports Network for free, but will not have audio for it, while in the match against North Alabama it will be on the UNA Lion Vision for free.
Fans can also keep updated on the teams' Twitter accounts:
FGCU: @FGCU_VB
NJIT: @NjitVolleyball
UNA: @UNA_Volleyball
Links to Livestats:
https://www.njithighlanders.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/una/
Links to Livestream:
https://www.njithighlanders.com/watch/?Live=304&type=Live
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/una/
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