FGCU VB @ Lipscomb Recap

Pulling off another stellar performance in A-SUN play, the FGCU volleyball team (21-6, 12-1 A-SUN) swept their fifth series this season as they shutout Lipscomb (15-10, 10-3 A-SUN) 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-17) at the Allen Arena in Nashville.

With the win, the Eagles are not only 9-16 against the Lady Bison, but have swept them for the second straight season.

In addition, the Eagles snapped Lipscomb's four-match streak while entering with a 10-match winning streak of their own.

The Eagles finished with a .319 hitting percentage while holding the Lady Bison to a .189 hitting percentage.

"I thought our serving and defense were the keys tonight," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said after his team hit .319. "We had a tough time slowing Lipscomb down in the early stages of that first set, but eventually found a better rhythm and the execution improved. You won't see a lot of aces on the stat sheet, but I felt like we were able to impact things from the service line and make things tougher for their attackers. Everyone contributed to this win, and I was really pleased with the focus and communication on the floor and the bench between the players."

Offensively, sophomore Cortney VanLiew led the way for the Eagles. VanLiew finished with team-leading 18 kills, seven digs and an ace. VanLiew's 18 kills put her at 680 in her career as she passed Ana Kokanovic (678, 2007-08) for seventh-place on the program's Division-I era career kills list, and is 14 shy of moving past Eleonora Kazarian (693, 2014-15) for 9th all-time and becoming the ninth player to reach 700 kills.

Fellow sophomore Snowy Burnam finished with her third double-double of the season. Burnam had 10 kills and 12 digs while also adding two assists and two blocks. This was her seventh double-double in her career.

Senior Maggie Rick finished with 25 assists to go with her two kills and eight digs, With her 25 assists, Rick is now at 4,349, which is 60 shy of breaking Gigi Meyer's program record (4,408, 2011-14).

On top of that, Rick has now competed in 124 matches, and is on pace to become the program's all-time leader three matches from now. She would jump Courtney Stephens, Whitney Masters and Meyer, who each played in 126 matches.

Freshman Chelsea Lockey also finished in double digits with 13 assists along with five digs.

Defensively, it was freshman Dana Axner and the Block Party (Burnam, VanLiew, seniors Sharonda Pickering and Kaiti Krivdo, junior Giogio Borgiotti and Dani Serrano, and freshman Tori Morris) that led the way.

Axner finished with 23 digs, five assists and an ace. Axner's 23 digs put her at 461. As a result, The Dublin, Ohio native not only passed Brooke Youngquist-Sweat's 2005 season record (429) for 11th all-time, but she has also passed senior Karissa Rhoades' 2017 record (460) and is now ninth all-time. Axner is five away from passing Brooke Youngquist-Sweat's 2006 record (464) and seven away from passing Holly Youngquist's 2011 record (466).

The Block Party had a combined 18 total blocks with Serrano leading the way (8).

With her eight block assists, Serrano now has 277 in her career and is four away from passing Olivia Mesner (280, 2011-14) as the all-time leader. The Sanford native's total blocks put her at 325 and is shy of passing Mesner (342) in that category.

In addition, Serrano had four kills and two digs. Serrano's four kills put her at 555 in her career.

Although Borgiotti did not get any blocks, she and Morris (one block) finished with three kills each.

Krivdo added two blocks in one set while Pickering had four blocks) and seven kills.

Rhoades added one dig to the mix putting her at 865 in her career.

For the Bison, freshman Logan Gish led the team with 11 kills while senior Carlyle Nusbaum had nine kill and 14 digs and sophomore Megan Kuper had seven kills and three digs. Both Nusbaum and Kuper finished with two aces each.

Junior Morgan Elmore had 26 assists and four digs while senior Lauren Anderson had 17 digs and three assists.

In addition, assistant coach Daniel Mahy earned his 260th career win with FGCU and his 288th overall, including the 28 wins with DII Barry University.

In other A-SUN matchups, Kennesaw (21-5, 12-1 A-SUN) shutout Liberty 3-0 and remain in a tie for first place with the Eagles, Stetson (15-10, 7-6 A-SUN) defeated North Alabama (2-20, 0-13 A-SUN) 3-1, and Jacksonville (5-21, 3-10 A-SUN) defeated NJIT (4-25, 2-11 A-SUN) 3-2.

Updated Standings:
T-1. Kennesaw State - 21-5, 12-1
T-1. FGCU - 21-6, 12-1
3. Lipscomb - 15-10, 10-3
4. Liberty - 13-14, 9-4
5. Stetson - 15-10, 7-6
6. North Florida - 9-21, 4-10
7. Jacksonville - 5-21, 3-10
8. NJIT - 4-25, 2-11
9. North Alabama - 2-20, 0-13

FGCU, Kennesaw, Lipscomb, Liberty and Stetson have all clinched a spot in the A-SUN Championship tournament.

Up Next:
The Eagles face Kennesaw State on Sunday, November 4 at 2 P.M. at the KSU Convocation Center. The match will air on ESPN3.

FGCU needs this win to get first place in conference and a split.