"We passed the ball extremely well," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "It's rare that you lose in three sets when you're passing the ball like that. It's an indication that UCF figured some things out blocking wise and were controlling the net in a way we couldn't adjust to. But I was pleased with first contact. I thought Karissa (Rhoades) did a really good job for us."
In the first set, the Bulldogs pushed the Eagles early and took the lead by as much as three points, but despite that, it barely fazed the Eagles as they managed to pull away in the first set.
Going into the second set, it would look like the Eagles would claim the second set, but the Bulldogs would not let that happen as pulled away and claimed the second set.
Hoping to bounce back, the Eagles did so. Although the Bulldogs took the lead a couple of times, the Eagles were not fazed as they pushed to claim the third set.
The fourth set was a no doubter for the Eagles as they claimed the set and the match.
Three Eagles finished with a double-double: sophomore Cortney VanLiew (19 kills and 10 digs), senior Maggie Rick (24 assists and 11 digs), and freshman Chelsea Lockey (14 assists and 12 digs).
Freshman Dana Axner and senior Karissa Rhoades finished with double digit digs each (Lockey: 16, Rhoades: 14).
Junior Daniele “Dani” Serrano would finish with 10 kills while fellow junior Giovanna “Giogio” Borgiotti added nine kills of her own.
Seniors Sharonda Pickering and Kaitlan “Kaiti” Krivdo and sophomore Snowy Burnam also add kills of their own (Pickering: 6, Krivdo: 3, Burnam: 2).
In addition, the Block Party (Serrano, Borgiotti, Pickering, Krivdo, Burnam and freshman Tori Morris) has a combined total of 16 blocks with Krivdo leading the way with seven.
Following the Eagles game, Yale played Alabama State and shut them out 3-0.
Although the Eagles put up a fight in the second set, UCF's McKenna Melville had 24 kills .435 hitting percentage against FGCU's defense was the first straight-set loss of the season for the Eagles.
"I think we got outplayed pretty significantly in the second half of each of those sets," Botsford said. "I thought UCF's blocking really put us in a tough spot, our hitters didn't manage particularly well and our outlet hitting was really poor. We need to be much better in that regard when playing teams of that level."
Borgiotti and Pickering each had a team-high eight kills for FGCU, while Burnam had seven.
Rick (19) and Lockey combined for 35 assists.
Defensively, Axner and VanLiew led the team with 12 digs apiece, while Rhoades had 10. Rick finished fourth with six. In addition, junior Karissa Rhoades played in her 100th match in the nightcap against UCF. She is just the 10th player in program history to do so, joining Rick.
Up next, the Eagles wrap up their portion of the invitational as they play Alabama State at 3 PM.
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