After falling to Kennesaw at home, the FGCU volleyball team (12-6, 5-1 A-SUN) bounced back on Sunday as they defeated Lipscomb (10-8, 5-1 A-SUN) 3-1 (25-15, 24-26, 25-14, 25-16). With the win, the Eagles are now 8-16 against the Lady Bison. In addition, this was head coach Matt Botsford's 101st win with FGCU.
"I think it was the best performance across the board when you figure out each player and the contribution that they made, and we didn't have to rely too much on one person as everybody was making an effort to help us find a way to win," said Botsford. "From that standpoint, it was the most balanced match we played this season."
"Blocking and serving really set the tone, and we knew that going into this weekend we had to rely on that, but the difference between tonight and Friday night was we had the offense to match what we were doing defensively, and that's a big key."
Offensively, it was sophomore Cortney VanLiew that paved the way. VanLiew finished with her fourth straight double-double (eighth of the season) of 16 kills and 10 digs. VanLiew also added four blocks on the defensive side.
Senior Maggie Rick also played strongly as she finished with 23 assists. With her 23 assists, Rick has 4,104 career assists, and is 305 away from passing Gigi Meyer (4,408) for the milestone of most overall.
Defensively, the Block Party finished with a combined 28 total blocks with freshman Tori Morris lead the way with a season-high nine blocks. Morris also added three kills.
The Eagles tallied a program-record 30 block assists with 26 coming from the Block Party and four from VanLiew.
"Lipscomb was doing a great job in the interior of the court," Botsford said. "We couldn't slow down the middles in the first two sets and we made a change to provide a different look and gave Tori (Morris) a chance to hopefully try to change things up a bit, and she was tremendous. The impact she had u, but she such a physical player, it's about the experience for her, and what a great opportunity to get this kind of experience in a match like that. She's a big plus for us tonight."
“Going in, I was a little nervous because I hadn't really played much this season, said Morris. "But I was confident in myself to make a big impact on the team with the support of my teammates and my coaches. I just knew that when I had to go in, I had to do what I had to do, and not let coach (Botsford) or my teammates down and just do my job."
Sophomore Snowy Burnam (three blocks) and senior Sharonda Pickering (seven blocks) finished with nine kills each.
"Snowy did a great job, and this was the first time all year made a shift and pushed her out to the left," said Botsford on Burnam's position. "She adapted pretty well playing six rotations, passed the ball great and that really stabilized things for us and let our offense work."
Juniors Daniele "Dani" Serrano (seven blocks) and Giovanna "Giogio" Borgiotti (one block) chipped in with six kills each.
Freshman Dana Axner also played on the strong role defensively as she finished with 19 digs. Axner also added an ace.
Other players that contributed were seniors Karissa Rhoades and Kaiti Krivdo and freshman Chelsea Lockey. Rhoades finished with nine digs and three aces while Krivdo added one block and Lockey finished with 19 assists and four digs. With her nine digs, Rhoades now has 855 career digs.
For the Lady Bison, senior Carlyle Nusbaum lead the way offensively with 15 kills, junior Morgan Elmore finished with 31 assists, and sophomore Megan Kuper finished with a double-double of 11 kills and 12 digs.
Defensively, senior Ca'Layci Coffey lead the way with four blocks to go with her 10 kills while senior Lauren Anderson had 18 digs
In addition to the win, the Eagles are now tied for second place with Lipscomb in conference, but are in second by overall record.
I haven't been to an FGCU volleyball game at home since November 11, 2017, which was the final home match of the season where we fell to Kennesaw. During the men's soccer match against Stetson, VanLiew, Burnam, sophomore Alayna Ryan and senior Amanda Carroll were in attendance and when they saw me at the game, I was happy to see them, but I was also saying to myself "Damn it, I was trying to keep it as a surprise, and I didn't expect to see them there. Now the surprise is ruined."
But they kept it as a surprise after the match and it was nice to return to see the team play again. I'll make sure to try to come to a few more.
Up Next:
The Eagles remain at home for conference play as they welcome Stetson (12-6, 4-2 A-SUN) to the Alico Arena on Tuesday, Oct. 9 at 6 P.M.
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