The FGCU volleyball team (11-6, 4-1 A-SUN) got several big performances and mounted a late rally, but suffered a 3-1 (25-20, 27-25, 16-25, 26-24) loss to Kennesaw State (14-4, 5-0 A-SUN) in Alico Arena on Friday. With the loss, the Eagles are now 13-11 overall against the Owls.
"We have to rely on our serving and blocking, and we did that tonight to put ourselves in position to come back from some pretty big deficits, but you're playing with fire if you think you're going to constantly be able to play out of holes like that," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "While I can appreciate the effort and the execution with the serving and the blocking that put us in that spot, especially in that fourth set, we need to handle the first contact and attack a little more decisively."
With the victory, Kennesaw State remains in a tie for first place with Lipscomb, who defeated Liberty in five sets in another battle of undefeated A-SUN teams on Friday. The Eagles will square off against Lipscomb on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Alico Arena.
"That was about as gritty of a win as we've ever had [at FGCU]. I could not be prouder of the fight and resilience we showed tonight against a really, really good FGCU team on their home court," said Kennesaw head coach Keith Schunzel.
Sophomore Cortney VanLiew paced the FGCU offense with 16 kills while adding 19 digs and one block assist. She now has at least nine digs in the past 11 matches, including 10 or more in nine of those. In fact, VanLiew recorded her third consecutive double-double, the seventh of the season and 13th of her career.
Outside of VanLiew, senior Sharonda Pickering added nine kills, while juniors Giovanna Borgiotti and Daniele Serrano and sophomore Snowy Burnam each added six. Pickering led the way with a .318 hitting percentage while finishing second on the team in block assists with five.
Freshman Dana Axner also had 19 digs to tie VanLiew for the team-high. She also added two assists while recording her fifth straight match with at least 10 digs. She has at least eight digs in every match and 10 or more in 14 of 17 so far during her freshman campaign.
Senior Maggie Rick led the team with 34 assists while adding 13 digs, three block assists and an ace. It was her third highest assist total and the sixth double-double of her season. Her dig total was one shy of matching her season-high set against West Virginia on Sept. 8. She also eclipsed 4,100 career digs and sits 304 shy of moving past Gigi Meyer (4,408, 2011-14) for the program's all-time record.
At the net, Serrano tallied eight block assists and a solo block while adding two digs and six kills. Her block assist total was two shy of matching the program's Division-I era record and is tied for the eighth-most. It was the fifth time in her career she recorded at least nine total blocks.
Other contributors included: freshman Chelsey Lockey with nine assists and five digs, senior Karissa Rhoades with 12 digs and two aces and Burnam with six digs and four block assists. Rhoades' 12 digs put her at 846 career digs.
As a team, FGCU's 24 block assists tied the season-high set against NJIT on Sept. 28. The 14 total blocks is a new season-high, however.
Kennesaw State, who knocked off FGCU in last year's A-SUN championship match, scored the first five points of the opening set, led by as many as nine and took the early lead despite the Eagles winning six of the final eight points.
In the second set, neither team led by more than two until Kennesaw State reeled off five straight to take a 20-15 lead. Pickering, however, capped a 5-0 rally for the Eagles with a kill and a solo block to even things up. After fighting off two set points, including one via a kill from VanLiew, the Owls took a two-set lead.
With things knotted at 10 apiece in the third set, VanLiew and Burnam produced kills in a 4-0 spurt. The rally continued until the Green and Blue opened up a 20-12 lead following a double-block from Borgiotti and Serrano. FGCU then closed the set with four straight to stay alive.
The fourth set provided even more drama. Kennesaw State scored six of the first seven, led 14-6 and look to be in firm control with a 22-14 lead. However, FGCU went on a 9-0 run, highlighted by kills from four different players. Down a point, the Owls produced two straight to set up match point. An attack error evened things back up, but Kennesaw State ended things with two straight.
"Scoring runs happen in this sport, and while it's easy to focus on the negatives when stuff like that happens, tonight I'm just so amazed at our team's ability to stay positive through the ups and downs and constantly fight back and come out on the good side," said Schunzel on FGCU's runs in the third and fourth set.
Up Next:
The Eagles remain at home as they welcome Lipscomb to the Alico Arena on Sunday, Oct. 7 at 2 PM.
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