With the win, Botsford earned his 103rd career win with Eagles, thus tying inaugural head coach Jaye Flood (103 2004-07) for most all-time.
The opening set featured back and forth action until Liberty went on an 8-2 run to open up a 23-17 lead. Sophomore Cortney VanLiew had a pair of kills to lead a 6-2 surge to close the set for the Eagles, but it wasn't enough. That momentum, however, carried her team to five straight and nine of the first 10 points the following set.
Liberty pulled within one, but a kill from senior Maggie Rick and an ace from freshman Dana Axner spurred a 9-4 run that eventually tied up the match.
Neither team led by more than four in the third set, but both of those four-point leads were by FGCU, who got a kill from junior Daniele Serrano to take a 22-18 margin.
Sophomore Snowy Burnam then answered back-to-back points from Liberty with a right-side kill to finish off a three-point victory. The Flames took control of the fourth set midway through, led 22-14 and eventually forced a fifth-set.
In the fifth set, Serrano and senior Sharonda Pickering had back-to-back kills to start things off. Following that, a crucial play happened as Serrano and VanLiew appeared to successfully double-block a Casey Goodwin attack by Liberty, but it was called out.
Botsford challenged the call, and the ruling was reversed. The play spurred what became a 5-0 run as the Eagles eventually took a 10-3 lead before later closing the set on another 5-0 outburst, highlighted by two kills from Rick and two more from senior Kaitlan Krivdo and Burnam.
"That was a really exciting match, and I was pleased with the composure our girls showed throughout," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "We had a tough time slowing down their offense but in the fifth set Dani and Sharonda found a nice blocking groove to get us off to the start we needed. Those two were very consistent all night and their steadiness was a huge reason we came away with this win."
"I'm proud of the fight to take Florida Gulf Coast to five is pretty good," said Liberty head coach Trevor Johnson. "We did some nice things. Gladly would've taken that fifth set back. We just made too many errors on our part. For us, you have to minimize those errors, but I'm proud of the fight of Kainah (Williams) coming in there with 14 kills, hit .619 against a really good team. Casey (Goodwin) had 19 kills, so we have all the pieces, but now we just got to put them together.
"That was a really exciting match, and I was pleased with the composure our girls showed throughout," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "We had a tough time slowing down their offense but in the fifth set Dani and Sharonda found a nice blocking groove to get us off to the start we needed. Those two were very consistent all night and their steadiness was a huge reason we came away with this win."
"I'm proud of the fight to take Florida Gulf Coast to five is pretty good," said Liberty head coach Trevor Johnson. "We did some nice things. Gladly would've taken that fifth set back. We just made too many errors on our part. For us, you have to minimize those errors, but I'm proud of the fight of Kainah (Williams) coming in there with 14 kills, hit .619 against a really good team. Casey (Goodwin) had 19 kills, so we have all the pieces, but now we just got to put them together.
Rick would finish with a double-double of 45 assists and 10 digs. Rick also added five kills over 10 attempts plus two aces and one block assist. It was her seventh double-double of the season, which pushes her career total to 17. Rick also reached 40 assists for the third time this season and the 26th time in her career.
In addition, Rick pushed her career assist total to 4,197, which is just 212 shy of eclipsing Gigi Meyer (4,408, 2011-14) for the program record. Her two aces give her 85, which is three shy of Jill Hopper (88, 2011-13) for sixth-most in the program's Division-I era. She also tied Holly Youngquist (418, 2008-11) for the fifth-most sets played.
Offensively, VanLiew finished with 22 kills and six digs.
Burnam also finished strong on the offensive end as she ended up with 12 kills, two aces and nine digs.
Pickering also contributed offensively with 10 kills at a .563 rate while Serrano added nine kills of her own. Serrano's nine kills put her at 518 in her career.
Defensively, Axner had a team-high 18 digs along with seven assists and an ace. Axner moved up one spot to 14th on the program's Division-I era list for most digs in a season. She now has 336, which is two shy of matching Holly Youngquist (338, 2008) and nine shy of eclipsing both Brooke Youngquist (2007) and Amanda Carroll (2017), who each had 344.
Along with Serrano (seven blocks), Pickering (eight blocks), the rest of the Block Party (Krivdo (1), junior Giovanna "Giogio" Borgiotti (2) and freshman Tori Morris (1)) had a combined 19 blocks in the match. Krivdo (three kills) and Borgiotti (two kills) also contributed on the offensive end.
In addition to her seven block assists, Serrano has 250 in her career and is 31 away from passing Olivia Mesner (280, 2011-14) for all-time leader in career block assists. In addition, Serrano now has 295 total and is 48 away from passing Mesner (342) for most all-time in that category.
Senior Karissa Rhoades added four digs and matched Rick and Burnam for the team-high in aces. Rhoades' four digs put her at 859 in her career.
Other players that contributed were freshman Chelsea Lockey and sophomore Alayna Ryan. Lockey finished with six assists and a dig, while Ryan finished with a kill and a dig. Ryan's kill was her first career collegiate kill.
For Liberty, four players contributed in double digit kills: juniors Casey Goodwin (19), Anna Gragg (10) and Kainah Williams (14) and redshirt sophomore Amelia Johnson (12).
Junior Hannah Morris (30) and Amaya Williams (24) finished in double digits in assists.
Defensively, seniors Victoria Baptista (11) and Margaret Latchford (10) finished in double digits in digs.
As a team, FGCU hit .293 over 150 attempts, which was their fourth-highest total of the season. The team's 22 block assists is also the fourth-best this year.
The Eagles remain in second place in conference behind Kennesaw while the Flames are tied for fourth with Stetson (12-7, 4-3 A-SUN).
UPDATED A-SUN STANDINGS:
1. Kennesaw State – 16-4, 7-0
2. FGCU – 14-6, 7-1
3. Lipscomb – 10-8, 5-1
4. Stetson – 12-7, 4-3
4. Liberty – 7-13, 4-3
6. North Florida – 7-16, 2-5
6. NJIT – 4-17, 2-5
8. Jacksonville – 2-17, 1-6
9. North Alabama – 2-14, 0-7
UPDATED A-SUN STANDINGS:
1. Kennesaw State – 16-4, 7-0
2. FGCU – 14-6, 7-1
3. Lipscomb – 10-8, 5-1
4. Stetson – 12-7, 4-3
4. Liberty – 7-13, 4-3
6. North Florida – 7-16, 2-5
6. NJIT – 4-17, 2-5
8. Jacksonville – 2-17, 1-6
9. North Alabama – 2-14, 0-7
Up Next:
FGCU will be back in action against Bethune-Cookman for non-conference play on Tuesday at 6 p.m. to conclude a two-match road trip.
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