FGCU VB vs North Alabama, NJIT Preview

The FGCU volleyball team (18-6, 9-1 A-SUN) wrap up their five-match homestead as they welcome A-SUN newcomer North Alabama (2-17, 0-10 A-SUN) on Friday, October 26 at 7 P.M. and NJIT (4-21, 2-8 A-SUN) on Sunday, October 28 at 1 P.M.

Last Time Out:
The Eagles are coming off of winning three matches of their five-match homestead as they shutout UNF, JU, and FIU 3-0. The Eagles swept UNF and JU at home and away, while the match against FIU was the Eagles' last non-conference match of the season.

Currently, the Eagles remain in second behind Kennesaw State (19-4, 10-0), who will play UNF (9-17, 4-7 A-SUN) also on Friday, October 26 at 7 P.M. and Stetson (12-9, 4-5 A-SUN) on Saturday, October 27 at 6 P.M. with both being on the road.

RPI:
FGCU currently ranks 96th in the latest RPI poll. They are 4-3 against RPI top 100 teams including No. 9 UCF (0-2), No. 57 Miami (1-0), No. 69 New Mexico State (1-0), No. 83 Yale (1-0), No. 86 Florida Atlantic (1-0) and No. 88 Kennesaw State (0-1).

Playoff Picture:
Aside from being in second place, the Eagles are in good shape as far as the conference tournament picture as they became one of the first two A-SUN Conference Volleyball squads to clinch berths in the A-SUN Championship next month with Kennesaw.

What it Do VanLiew?:
The highlight of the offense remains with sophomore Cortney VanLiew. VanLiew is coming off a week of 32 kills (13 vs UNF, 10 vs JU, 9 vs FIU), 22 digs, and two aces. The Seymour native leads the team with 331 kills (3.99 per set). Her nine kills snapped her streak of 10 straight matches with at least 10 kills.

VanLiew's Invitation:
In the wake of the moment on defense, VanLiew joins seniors Kaiti Krivdo and Sharonda Pickering, juniors Giovanna "Giogio" Borgiotti and Daniele "Dani" Serrano, fellow sophomore Snowy Burnam and freshman Tori Morris as a member of the Block Party. VanLiew has 31 blocks in her name.

With VanLiew's added blocks, the Block Party have a combined 410 total blocks, including 15 against UNF, 27 against JU, and 24 against FIU.

During the week, Morris was named A-SUN Freshman of the Week for her performances against UNF, JU and FIU. Morris had 14 kills and 19 blocks in all three matches.

The Eagles are currently the nation's second-best team in opponent hitting percentage at .132 behind Power 55 Nebraska, while they rank 24th on the offensive side at .263, which would be the third-best in the program's Division-I era.

In addition, the Eagles are fourth in the nation in total blocks (239) behind Florida (249.5) and seventh in blocks per set (2.88) behind Syracuse (2.94) and ahead of Florida (2.87).

Spice Burns:
Serrano is still on fire (no pun intended) on offense and defense. Serrano leads the team and the A-SUN in total blocks (111) and is tied for third in kills with Borgiotti and Burnam (151). The Sanford native had a combined 16 kills and 12 blocks against UNF, JU and FIU.

Serrano's 16 kills put her at 541 in her career (15th all-time). Serrano is 32 away from passing Leigh Pudwill (572, 2015-16) for 14th all-time.

Serrano has 265 block assists and 312 total blocks in her career. Serrano is 16 away from passing Olivia Mesner's (265; 342, 2011-14) all-time record in block assists and 31 away for total blocks.

Additionally, Serrano has 97 block assists this year, which gives her the second (98, 2016) and third most in a season. Serrano 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.

Maggie's World of Assists:
Senior Maggie Rick is only 134 away from passing Gigi Meyer (4,408 2011-14) as the all-time leader in career assists. Currently, Rick has 4,275 in her career, and had a combined 55 assists against UNF, JU and FIU.

Rick's Apprentice:
Freshman Chelsea Lockey has been on fire alongside Rick. Lockey currently has 323 assists, in which she became the eighth player in the program's Division-I era to reach 300 career assists. Lockey had a career-high 25 assists in the game against JU.

Chopping Digs:
Freshman Dana Axner remains on her toes defensively. Axner currently has 409 digs (4.93 digs per set) and tied for second on the team with 14 aces.

Axner had a combined 53 digs against UNF, JU and FIU. Against FIU, the Dublin, Ohio native broke and almost broke her own Division-I era record for most digs in a three-set match as she finished with 26 digs.

The 4x A-SUN Freshman of the Week's 26 digs passed Leigh Pudwill (372, 2015-16), Roberta Santos (393, 2007-08) and Elenora Kazarian's (398, 2014-15) single season records in the program's Division-I era against JU and is 15th all-time in the program's Division-I era. Axner is 38 away from passing VanLiew (446) for 14th all-time.

Scouting North Alabama:
North Alabama has yet to win a conference match this after transitioning to DI. The Lions are coming off of 3-1 losses against Kennesaw State and most recently Lipscomb and are in dead last in the conference. The team's lone wins came against Tennessee State and UNC Asheville in the Chattanooga Classic for non-conference play.

As a team, the Lions rank last in the A-SUN in kills (642), while FGCU has exactly twice as many (1,330). In addition, North Alabama averages a conference-worst 844 points per set, while the Eagles check in 1,470 points per set.

Offensively, sophomore Christina Ellwanger leads the team with 175 kills (2.54 per set). Ellwanger had 14 kills against Kennesaw and nine against Lipscomb.

Senior Jayden Davila-McClary leads the way in assists (346, 5.01 per set). McClary had 37 against Kennesaw and 25 against Lipscomb.

Defensively, senior Malaisia Stallworth has 61 blocks. Stallworth had a combined 10 blocks against Kennesaw and Lipscomb.

FGCU played UNA in an earlier match on the road in which they shutout the Lions 3-0. In fact, the win against UNA was Botsford's 100th win in his career with the Eagles.

Scouting NJIT:
The Highlanders are coming off of a two-straight home losses where they were shutout by Lipscomb and Kennesaw.

Offensively, junior Madi Busler and senior Jovana Baosic lead the way for the Highlanders. Busler had a combined 17 kills against Kennesaw and Lipscomb while Baosic had four.

Defensively, senior libero Adriana Nieto leads the A-SUN in digs (413) and digs per set (4.98). Nieto has not played since the matchup against Manhattan.

The Highlanders will play Liberty on October 26 prior to playing FGCU.

Series History:
The Eagles are 7-0 overall against the Highlanders. The Eagles played the Highlanders earlier this season where they won 3-0.

How to Keep Up:
Both matches will have livestats available and will air livestream on Facebook Live from the FGCU volleyball Facebook page.

Fans can also keep updated on the teams' Twitter accounts:
FGCU: @FGCU_VB

NJIT: @NjitVolleyball

UNA: @UNA_Volleyball

Links to Livestats:
vs UNA: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=223101

vs NJIT: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=223102

Livestream link: facebook.com/fgcuvolleyball

Promotions:

The doors will open at 6 P.M. against UNA where the theme is "Beat Cancer" Night (vs UNA) and Halloween In The Nest (vs Lipscomb). The match against North Alabama will be dubbed as a pinkout, so marketing is encouraging fans to wear pink to the match.

The doors for the match against NJIT will open a 1 P.M., and there is no specific coloring for the match, but marketing is encouraging fans to wear a costume to the match

1. Costume Contest: Prizes and Candy to celebrate Halloween with Azul (vs Lipscomb)

2. Pink Out Alico: Buy the 2018 "Beat Cancer" shirt to support the American Cancer Society and  wear pink (vs UNA)

Conference Standings:
+1. Kennesaw (19-4, 10-0)
+2. FGCU (18-6, 9-1)
3. Lipscomb (13-9, 8-2)*
4. Liberty (11-13, 7-3)
5. Stetson (12-9, 4-5)
6. UNF (9-18, 4-7)
7. NJIT (4-21, 2-8)*
8. Jacksonville (3-21, 2-10)
9. UNA (2-17, 0-10)

*- subject to change Friday
+- clinched a spot in the A-SUN Championship