Last Time Out:
The Eagles are coming off of five straight home matches where they won and shutout all five of the teams they played: UNF, JU, FIU, North Alabama and NJIT. The Eagles enters with a nine-match winning streak and are tied for first with Kennesaw.
What it Do VanLiew:
Although bouncing back and forth in kills, sophomore Cortney VanLiew remains hot for the Eagles on offensive as well as defensive. VanLiew leads the team with 354 kills (3.98 per set), 33 total blocks and 245. In the weekend against North Alabama and NJIT, VanLiew had 23 kills, 22 digs and two blocks including her 10th double-double against NJIT.
In addition to kills, the Seymour, Indiana native has 662 in her career as she passed Jelena Simic (649, 2009, 2011) for 11th all-time in career kills, and is three away from passing Devon Watts (664, 2005-06) for 11th all-time and 17 away from passing Ana Kovanovic (678, 2007-08) for 10th all-time. As of the match against Jacksonville, VanLiew was officially a member of the Block Party.
The World of Maggie:
Senior Maggie Rick is now 85 assists away from passing Gigi Meyer (4,408 2011-14) as the all-time leader in career assists. Rick has 4,324 in her career so after getting 23 assists against NJIT and 26 against UNA.
Spicier Than a Jalapeno:
Junior Dani Serrano still remains hot on offense and defense. Offensively, Serrano currently has 161 kills in her name (fourth on the team). In the weekend against UNA and NJIT, Serrano had a combined 10 kills and five blocks. Serrano's 10 kills put her 551 in her career.With her four block assists, Serrano now has 269 and is 12 shy of passing Olivia Mesner (280, 2011-14) as the all-time leader. In total blocks, Serrano now has 317 and is 26 shy of passing Mesner (342) as the all-time leader in that category. In solo blocks, Serrano has 48 and is four away from passing Ericka Fonseca (51, 2005-06) for second all-time.
Blizzard Alert:
Sophomore Snowy Burnam continues to put her opponents in a cold spell as she is third on the team in kills (167). In the series, Burnam had a double-double against UNA (10 kills and 11 digs) and six kill and 13 digs against NJIT.
Block Party in Alico:
The Block Party (Serrano, VanLiew, Burnam, seniors Sharonda Pickering and Kaiti Krivdo, junior Giogio Borgiotti and freshman Tori Morris) have a combined 437 total blocks with Serrano leading the team and the A-SUN in total blocks (116). The squad had 13 against UNA and 14 against NJIT.
With blocks from the Block Party, along with total blocks from seniors Karissa Rhoades (1) and an injured senior Amanda Carroll (7) and Rick (13), the Eagles have 254 total blocks, which is #8 in the nation.
In addition, the Eagles hold their opponents to a .123 hitting percentage. Their opponents hitting percentage is #1 in the nation as they crept ahead of Nebraska (.136) by 13 points.
In addition, the Eagles hold their opponents to a .123 hitting percentage. Their opponents hitting percentage is #1 in the nation as they crept ahead of Nebraska (.136) by 13 points.
Paul Bunyan's Apprentice:
Freshman Dana Axner continues to "chop down" the opponents' opportunities of getting kills. In 14 straight matches, Axner has had at least 10 digs in a match. In the weekend series against UNA and NJIT, Axner had a combined 29 digs with three aces. Axner already passed Brooke Youngquist-Sweat's 2005 season record (429) for 11th all-time. The Dublin, Ohio native is 21 away from passing Holly Youngquist's 2009 season record (459, 10th all-time).
Axner leads the team with 438 digs (4.92 per set) and is tied for first with NJIT's Adrian Nieto in the same category.
Coach Shutout:
Since being at the helm in 2014, head coach Matt Botsford has led the Eagles to 71 clean sweeps. Botsford, who is currently in his fifth season as head coach, already has reached 100 career wins and already passed inaugural head coach Jaye Flood (103) for most wins as head coach for the Eagles as he currently has 109 including ones against UNA and NJIT.
Winning Assists:
Aside from Botsford's 100 wins as head coach for FGCU, long time assistant coach Daniel Mahy has also garnered career wins of his own. Mahy has been with the Eagles since the inaugural season (2004) with Jaye Flood and enters his 13th season as assistant coach for the Eagles.
Mahy left the Eagles from 2006-07 and joined NCAA DII Barry University before reuniting with FGCU in 2008 after head coach Dave Nichols (FGCU's 2nd head coach) took over the team before Botsford came took over in 2014.
Mahy has been an assistant coach for all three head coaches, and built up 259 total wins with FGCU and 287 in his overall coaching career in the NCAA, which includes the 28 wins at Barry.
Scouting the Lady Bison:
Lipscomb is coming off of a two-match weekend on the road as they shutout Stetson 3-0 before defeating UNF 3-1.
Offensively, senior Carlyle Nusbaum leads the team in kills (350, 4.12 per set). In the shutout against Stetson, Nusbaum had a double-double of 18 kills and 13 digs and a double-double against UNF of 12 kills and 17 digs. Nusbaum has 13 double-double in the season
Defensively, Ca'Layci Coffey is third on the team in kills (191), but leads the team with 74 blocks. In the shutout against Stetson, Coffey had 11 kills and two blocks while against UNF, she had eight kills and 10 blocks.
The Lady Bison currently sit in third place overall in conference.
Series History:
FGCU is 8-16 overall against the Lipscomb. The Eagles played the Lady Bison earlier in the season at home and won 3-1. The Eagles are going for their third sweep against Lipscomb overall (2012, 2017)
Scouting the Owls:
Kennesaw is coming off a heartbreaking split for the weekend on the road as they shutout UNF before being shutout by Stetson for their first conference loss, thus putting themselves tied for first with the Eagles.
Offensively, sophomore Lauren Chastang leads the team with 336 kills. In the weekend against UNF and Stetson, Chastang had 24 kills including a double-double against UNF.
Defensively, the middle duo of sophomore Quin Sutphin and senior Liesl Engelbrecht. Engelbrecht is third on the team in blocks (205) while Sutphin is fourth (178).
Both combine for 194 blocks (103 Sutphin, 94 Engelbrecht). In the weekend series against UNF and Stetson, Sutphin had 13 kills and two blocks while Engelbrecht had 11 kills and four blocks.
Also on defensive is sophomore Karlee Grover. Grover leads the team with 336 digs (4.13 per set). In the matches against UNF and Stetson, Grover had three digs against UNF and 10 against Stetson.
Kennesaw will play Liberty on Friday, November 2 at home prior to playing FGCU.
Series History:
Against the Owls, the Eagles are 13-11 overall. FGCU fell 3-1 to Kennesaw earlier in the season at the Alico Arena, so the Eagles are looking to split the series with Kennesaw with a win.
How to Keep Up:
Livestats will be available for both matches and will air on ESPN+ (ESPN3). The app costs $4.99 a month to watch all livestream games available.
Fans can also keep up on Twitter:
FGCU: @FGCU_VB
Lipscomb: @LipscombVBall
Kennesaw: @KSUOwlsVB
Fans can also keep up on Twitter:
FGCU: @FGCU_VB
Lipscomb: @LipscombVBall
Kennesaw: @KSUOwlsVB
Livestats links:
@ Lipscomb: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=224702
@ Kennesaw: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=230946
Livestream links:
@Lipscomb: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3452842/florida-gulf-coast-vs-lipscomb-w-volleyball
@Kennesaw: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3452220/florida-gulf-coast-vs-kennesaw-state-w-volleyball
No comments:
Post a Comment