FGCU VB vs UNF, JU, FIU Preview

After a brief break from A-SUN Conference play, the FGCU volleyball team (15-6, 7-1 A-SUN) return home for conference play in the Alico Arena as they prepare for rematches with UNF (8-16, 3-5 A-SUN) on Friday, October 19 at 7 pm and Jacksonville (3-18, 2-7 A-SUN) on October 21 at 2 pm for conference play and face FIU (13-7, 5-2 C-USA) on Tuesday, October 23 at 7 pm for their final non-conference match.

Last Time Out:
The Eagles are coming off of a two-match road trip where they played a nail biter against A-SUN newcomer Liberty in five sets, winning 3-2 before heading to Daytona Beach to shutout Bethune-Cookman 3-0.

While the win against Bethune-Cookman helped their overall record, the Eagles remain in second place behind Kennesaw (17-4, 8-0 A-SUN), who defeated Lipscomb (11-9, 6-2 A-SUN) 3-2 on Wednesday night.

Mr. 104:
Head coach Matt Botsford earned his 103rd win against Liberty before earning his 104th win against Bethune-Cookman. Botsford passed Jaye Flood (103, 2004-07) for the most wins as head FGCU volleyball coach.

What it Do VanLiew?:
Sophomore Cortney VanLiew remains in tact on the offense. VanLiew leads the team with 299 kills (4.04 kills per set). Against Liberty, VanLiew had 22 kills and six digs in her name, while against Bethune-Cookman, she had a double-double of 15 kills and 12 digs. The Seymour, Indiana native reached 600 career kills in the second set against Bethune-Cookman and now has 607 in her career.

Dairy Queen Anyone?:
Fellow sophomore Snowy Burnam has also been on her A-game. Burnam currently has 126 kills and 40 blocks as part of the Block Party. Against Liberty, Burnam had 12 kills and nine digs while against Bethune, she had a double-double of 12 kills and a career-high 18 digs.

Maggie's World of Assists:
Senior Maggie Rick is 189 assists away from passing Gigi Meyer (4,408 2011-14) as the all-time leader in career assists. Currently, Rick has 4,220 in her career after her seventh double-double of the season (17th in her career) against Liberty as she finished with 45 assists and 10 digs and her 23 assist match against Bethune-Cookman.

The Spicy Wall of Serrano:
Junior Daniele Serrano still remains hot both offensively and defensively. Offensively, Serrano had nine kills and seven total blocks against Liberty and seven kills and five blocks against Bethune-Cookman. Serrano got her 500th career kill in the first set against Stetson and has 528 career kills after the matches against Liberty and Bethune-Cookman. On the defensive side, Serrano passed Ashley Yance (45, 2005-09) for second all-time in solo blocks as she got her 46th career solo block against Bethune-Cookman, and is second all-time in block assists (254) and total blocks (300). Serrano is 26 and 42 away from passing Olivia Mesner (280, 342, 2011-14) for all-time leader in career block assists and total blocks. Currently, the Sanford native has 513 kills (fourth most on the team) and 99 blocks.

Paul Bunyan's Apprentice:
Freshman Dana Axner remains on her toes defensively. Axner currently has 356 digs (4.81 digs per set) and tied for second on the team with 14 aces.

In the match against Liberty, Axner had 18 digs, seven assists and an ace and 20 digs and three assists against Bethune-Cookman. As a result of her performance, Axner was named A-SUN Freshman of the Week last week for the fourth time, which breaks a tie with Amanda Carroll (2015), Serrano (2016) and VanLiew (2017) for the most in program history. She is now just one short of matching the A-SUN's all-time record held by North Florida's Gabby O'Connell.

DJ in the Block Party:
Along with Serrano, the Block Party (seniors Sharonda Pickering and Kaiti Krivdo, junior Giovanna "Giogio" Borgiotti, sophomore Snowy Burnam and freshman Tori Morris) remain in tact on defense. The squad have a combined 312 total blocks and 593 kills.

Against Liberty, the squad had 19 total blocks and 36 kills in the match with Burnam (12) and Pickering (10) leading the way while against Bethune-Cookman, they had 15 blocks and 28 kills.

In addition, Pickering is second in the nation in hitting percentage (.441) behind Weber State's Hannah Hill (.448).

Scouting UNF:
The Ospreys are coming off a two-match road trip after shutting out NJIT 3-0 before battling in a five set win over A-SUN newcomer North Alabama. Currently the Ospreys are in sixth place in conference.

Junior Taryn Griffey leads the team with 266 kills and 95 blocks. Against NJIT, Griffey had eight kills and seven blocks while against UNA, she had 12 kills and two blocks.

Redshirt sophomore Gabby O'Connell is second on the team with 219 kills and leads the team with 254 digs. O'Connell has 10 double-doubles for the season including two against NJIT (10 kills and 12 digs) and UNA (16 kills and 13 digs).

Senior setter Madilyn McCarty lead the team with 757 assists and has 3,227 including the 1,229 assists in her freshman year at Winthrop. McCarty had 29 assist against NJIT and 54 assists against UNA.

Series History:
The Eagles are 21-6 against the Ospreys, including a 3-0 shutout in Jacksonville earlier this season.

Scouting Jacksonville:
The Dolphins are coming off of a 3-2 win against Stetson after suffering three straight losses to NJIT, Kennesaw and Lipscomb. As of now, the Dolphins sit in eighth place behind NJIT.

 Junior Mallory Mattingly leads the team with 289 kills (3.61 per set). However, she's still attacking at just a .128 rate. Mattingly had a double-double of 21 kills an 12 digs.

In fact, as a team, the Dolphins are hitting .151 with freshman middle blocker Giao Huynh leads the team at .229.

Defensively, junior Natalie Wehner leads the team with 244 digs. Wehner had 22 digs against Stetson.

Senior setter Lauren Petersen has the vast majority of the team's assists with 541. Petersen had a double-double of 49 assists and 10 digs.

Sophomore middle blocker Hannah Marchand leads the team with 557 total blocks (14 solo). Marchand had seven against Stetson.

Series History:
Overall, the Eagles are 16-11 against the Dolphins including a 3-0 shutout in Jacksonville.

Scouting FIU:
FIU is currently at their best outing since the 2015 season (15-13, 9-7 C-USA). The Panthers are coming off of a split this past weekend after falling to 2-3 to UTSA before beating UTEP 3-2 in conference play.

Offensively, senior Margherita Bianchin leads the team with 265 kills and 22 aces. Bianchin had a combined 32 kills. The Italian native is one of 24 players that have the rare volleyball triple-double in which she is tied for fourth in the nation with three triple-doubles, including one against UTEP (17 kills, 17 assists, 12 digs).

Defensively, redshirt junior Chelsea Hudson leads the team with 78 blocks. Hudson had nine blocks in the weekend series.

Redshirt junior Lina Bernier leads the team with 396 digs, including a combined 39 against UTSA and UTEP.

The Panthers will play against Southern Miss for C-USA play before facing FGCU.

Series History:
In the series against FIU, the Eagles are 8-5 overall. Last season, the Eagles swept the series against the Panthers at home in the FGCU Hilton Garden Inn Invitational and on the road at FIU.

The Panthers last win against the Eagles was on November 8, 2011 where they shutout the Eagles 3-0.

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

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

JU: @JAX_Volleyball

UNF: @OspreyVB

FIU: @FIUVolleyball

livestats link: 

vs UNF: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=223098

vs JU: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=223099

vs FIU: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=223100

livestream link: https://admin.fgcuathletics.com/sports/2017/9/5/fgcu-athletics-facebook-live-broadcasts.aspx

Promotions:

The themes for all three matches are Youth Night (vs UNF). Feed Your Fortitude Day (vs JU) and Eagle Pride Day (vs FIU) with the following promotions for the matches are as noted:

vs. UNF:

1. Youth Night: Youth 12 and under in FGCU Gear will get into the game for free and will receive an FGCU tattoo!
2. A-Fun Trivia Night: A-Fun trivia throughout the night! Winners receive prizes!
3. SG Tailgate: SG & Dirty Bird co-sponsored student tailgate at the ROC!

vs. JU:

1. Food Drive: Accepting food donations for pets and their owners!
2. "Beat Cancer" Fundraiser: Pre-sale of pink shirt to support the American Cancer Society!

vs. FIU:
1. Green/Blue: Student athletes come out & support fellow Eagles!
2. "Beat Cancer" Fundraiser: Pre-sale of pink shirt to support the American Cancer Society!