"I think FIU looked much improved," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "We knew we were going to be in for a challenge. I thought the team stepped up, especially with the way we were blocking, and our floor defense was great. We had some moments offensively, a couple of stretch runs that I wish we could have controlled a little bit better, but I think that was more a function of some of the serving strategies that FIU was using."
The Panthers fought hard in the first set taking a lead as high as four points, but it did not seem to faze the Eagles as they claimed the first set.
The second set was not as hard for the Eagles when they claimed even with the Panthers take two one-point leads before the Eagles broke away with eight straight points to the end of the set.
For the third set, the Eagles pulled it off with seven straight points before the Panthers tried to fight back with six straight points of their own, but did little effect as they Eagles pulled away with another three straight set win. This was their 14th match of the season where they shutout their opponents and the 70th match under Botsford's reign.
To be honest, I thought FIU had a slight chance to beat us after taking the brief lead in the first set, and with their overall series record against us and their current season, I felt it was going to be unpredictable with them. Despite their previous two seasons where they did get at least 10 wins, anything is possible.
Offensively, it was sophomore Snowy Burnam that led the way for the Eagles. Burnam finished with 12 kills and seven digs.
"Snowy on the left side, to be able to play in a match like that without a single error, she just picked her spots," said Botsford on Burnam's performance. "I thought the decision-making we've seen over the last couple of weeks continues to improve. She's a little bit more terminal now than she was as her comfort level increases out there. She did a nice job."
Senior Maggie Rick had 21 assists to go with two kills and six digs. With her 21 assists, Rick now has 4,275 career assists and is now 134 shy of breaking Gigi Meyer's (4,408, 2011-14) all-time record. Not too far behind Rick, freshman Chelsea Lockey, who reached 300 assists against Jacksonville, finished with 11 assists to go with five digs, one kill and one ace. Lockey now has 323 assists.
Sophomore Cortney VanLiew finished behind Burnam with nine kills, four assists, an ace and three blocks. VanLiew now needs 11 more kills to surpass Jelena Simic (649, 2009-11) for the eighth-most career kills in the Division-I era. She needs 44 more to produce a top-10 single season in the era. She has a chance to become one of just four players with 400 or more kills in a season since 2007.
Defensively, it was once again freshman Dana Axner and the Block Party (Burnam, senior Sharonda Pickering, juniors Dani Serrano and Giovanna "Giogio" Borgiotti, and freshman Tori Morris).
Axner finished with 26 digs, one assist and an ace. This was Axner's 12th match with at least 10 or more digs and her seventh with 20 or more digs. The Dublin, Ohio native nearly broke her own program record for most digs in a three-set match.
"Dana was great defensively," Botsford said. "We had a couple of conversations early on, like you're digging everything, but there's a couple other things that you need to do out there for us. She's such a competitive kid that she wants to do everything perfectly, and I can appreciate that. I'm very lucky to have that. The first set there was a couple assignments she missed, which doesn't happen often and didn't happen after that, so she quickly corrected it and played great."
The Block Party had a combined 21 blocks with Serrano leading the way with six. In fact, Serrano's six blocks (block assists) put her at 265 and is 16 away from passing Olivia Mesner's (265, 2011-14) all-time record. Serrano also has 312 total blocks and is 31 away from passing Mesner (342) in that category. In addition, I decided that VanLiew should be named a member of the Block Party.
Additionally, Serrano's 97 block assists this year now gives her the second (98, 2016) and third most in a season. She needs just five more to become the program's all-time single-season leader. Her 111 total blocks has tied Ashley Yance's 2009 total - in 32 fewer sets played - and sits just eight shy of moving past Yance for another record.
Serrano also added six kills to her regime. The Sanford native's six kills put her at 541 in her career.
Borgiotti, Pickering and Morris finished with four kills each. Borgiotti also had four blocks while Pickering and Morris finished with five blocks each.
"The blocking without a doubt is at it's best," said Botsford on the team's defense. "Sharonda is doing a good job, but there was a couple of things that happened out there today where we had some plays called 'out' from the blocking side of things, and what was coming at them changed."
"Watching from the sideline, the response of our blockers is when I finally realized that they get it because it was something we weren't expecting. They reacted accordingly in a way we would expect them (FIU) to, which doesn't really happen, but now it's instinctive, so I'm really pleased with the communication, and that's where it starts, talking things through and coming at them, and Dani spearheads all of that for us."
For the Panthers, senior Margherita Bianchin led the team offensively with 10 kills fie assists and an ace while freshman Abbie Hughes had 20 assists, seven kills and two aces.
Defensively, redshirt junior Lina Bernier finished with 19 digs.
The Eagles had a .350 hitting percentage in contrast to FIU's .057.
"I think we got to try to find a little bit more pressure on the service line," said Botsford. "We had it for spurts. I'd like to be a little more consistent all the way throughout, and I think first contact, we're a little bit up and down the last week and a half. We had a match that's great and then a match that was pretty average. We got to shorten that up a little bit, and I really don't want to be in two-person, so we got to find out the answer to that. All-in-all, the blocking and defense have been spectacular. We just got to continue to work."
Other A-SUN Matches:
Tuesday's Results
Liberty 3, Maryland Eastern Shore 1
North Florida 3, Jacksonville 0
Lipscomb 3, North Alabama 1
Liberty 3, Maryland Eastern Shore 1
North Florida 3, Jacksonville 0
Lipscomb 3, North Alabama 1
Up Next:
The Eagles continue their five-match homestead as they welcome A-SUN newcomer North Alabama on Friday, October 26 at 6 P.M. before Facing NJIT on Sunday, October 28 at 2 P.M.
The Eagles are looking for a sweep to both teams.
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