After being on the road for seven straight matches, excluding the neutral matches for tournaments, the FGCU volleyball team (11-5, 4-0 A-SUN) return home to the Alico Arena for A-SUN Conference play as they face Kennesaw State (13-4, 4-0 A-SUN) on Friday, Oct 5 at 7 PM and Lipscomb (9-7, 4-0 A-SUN) on Sunday, Oct. 7 at 2 PM.
Last Time Out:
The Eagles began their first four matches of conference play on the road as they defeated and shutout Jacksonville, UNF, NJIT, and first year A-SUN member North Alabama.
Coach 100:
Head coach Matt Botsford, who enters into his fifth season as head coach reached a new milestone as he won his 100th game in the Eagles' game against North Alabama. With his 100th win, Botsford became the second FGCU head volleyball coach to reach 100 wins (side note: Jaye Flood was the first).
Oh Captain, My Captain:
Like Botsford, senior Maggie Rick continues for a milestone of her own: the all-time leader in assists. Rick currently has 4,081 career assists 328 away from passing Gigi Meyer (4,408) for the milestone.
It's a Party in Alico:
Seniors Kaiti Krivdo and Sharonda Pickering, juniors Dani Serrano and Giovanna "Giogio" Borgiotti, sophomore Snowy Burnam and freshman Tori Morris are an elite squad known as the Block Party. The squad has a combined total of 219 blocks. In the conference games on the road, the squad had 54 blocks with Pickering and Serrano leading the way. In addition, the Block Party has a combined 431 kills.
What it Still do VanLiew?:
Sophomore Cortney VanLiew has been on a tear on the offensive end for the Eagles. VanLiew has 218 kills. In conference play, VanLiew had 49 kills in all four matches.
Ax Nation:
Freshman Dana Axner has been profound as libero. Axner currently has 251 digs and is second in digs per set (4.56). The Dublin, Ohio native also has 12 aces. For the four conference matches on the road, the two-time A-SUN Freshman of the Week had 59 digs and secured her first collegiate kill against North Alabama.
Standings:
So far, the Eagles are in a four-way tie with Kennesaw, Liberty and Lipscomb. Below are the current standings:
1. Kennesaw (13-4, 4-0)
2. FGCU (11-5, 4-0)
3. Lipscomb (9-7, 4-0)
4. Liberty (7-10, 4-0)
5. Stetson (10-6, 2-2)
6. UNF (6-16, 1-5)
7. North Alabama (2-11, 0-4)
8. NJIT (2-16, 0-4)
9. JU (1-15, 0-4)
Scouting Kennesaw:
The Owls are coming off their part of conference play as they shutout NJIT, North Alabama, and Stetson before defeating UNF 3-1.
Offensively, sophomore Lauren Chastang leads the team with 235 kills. In all four conference matches, she had 14 kills against NJIT and UNF and 12 against UNA and Stetson. In fact, in 15 straight matches, Chastang has had at least 10 or more kills.
Defensively, the middle duo of sophomore Quin Sutphin and senior Liesl Engelbrecht rank second and third, respectively, in the A-SUN in total blocks. Engelbrecht is the first player in program history with over 300 career blocks.
Against the Owls, the Eagles are 13-10 overall. FGCU lost three times to Kennesaw including the A-SUN Conference Tournament Championship.
Scouting Lipscomb:
The Lady Bison shutout North Alabama and Stetson and defeated NJIT and UNF 3-1.
Offensively, senior Carlyle Nusbaum leads the team in kills (238). In the shutout against Stetson, Nusbaum had a double-double of 16 kills and 12 digs.
Defensively, Ca'Layci Coffey is third on the team in kills (106), but leads the team with 41 blocks. In the shutout against Stetson, Coffey had 10 kills, but no blocks.
FGCU is 7-16 overall against the Lipscomb. The Eagles swept Lady Bison last season at home and away, the first time since 2012.
The Lady Bison will play Liberty prior to playing FGCU.
How to Keep Up:
Both matches will have livestats available and will be livestream on FGCU's Facebook page.
Fans can also keep up on Twittter:
FGCU: @FGCU_VB
Lipscomb: @LipscombVBall
Kennesaw: @KSUOwlsVB
Promotions:
For the match against Kennesaw, it is dubbed as a blueout, so marketing is encouraging fans and Dirty Birds to wear blue to the match.
In addition, it will also be Chalk Talk Night, Pizza with Coach Botsford and a poster signing
For the match against Lipscomb, it will be dubbed as a whiteout as marketing is encouraging fans and Dirty Birds to wear white to the match.
In addition for that match, It will be Future Eagles Day (Youth 12 and under in White FGCU Gear or FGCU Camp Shirts will get into the game for free and will receive an FGCU tattoo!), a pre-game coaches chat! (Youth or High School VB coaches are invited to a pregame meeting w/Coach Botsford) and a "Beat Cancer" Fundraiser (Pre-sale of pink shirt to support the American Cancer Society).
Link to livestats:
http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=223095
http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=223096
Link to livestream: https://www.facebook.com/fgcuvolleyball
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