"Tonight was all about our serving and blocking," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "We knew we had to take them out of system if we were going to have a chance to control their very talented middles and opposite. The girls were great from the service line and that made a huge difference."
Offensively for the Eagles, it was sophomore A-SUN Player of the Year, All-Conference First Team and All-Academic Team member Cortney VanLiew that took the reins. VanLiew was shy of a double-double as she finished with 16 kills, nine digs, one assist and two aces. With her 16 kills, VanLiew now has 740 in her career.
"It's kind of undescribable," said VanLiew. "I'm so excited to be with my team, which is basically my family and to be able to play with them every night is amazing."
"It's kind of undescribable," said VanLiew. "I'm so excited to be with my team, which is basically my family and to be able to play with them every night is amazing."
Fellow sophomore Snowy Burnam was also shy of a double-double as she finished with seven kills, 11 digs, and an assist. Burnam's seven kills put her at 412 in her career.
Senior Maggie Rick and A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Chelsea Lockey finished with double digit assists. Rick would finish with 16 assists, a kill, and two aces while Lockey finished with 15 assists, an ace, a block and three digs. For Rick, her 16 assists put her at 4,466 in her career.
In addition, Rick's two aces put her at 90 in her career and is three away from passing Courtney Stephens (92, 2014-17) and Roberta Santos (92, 2007-08) for sixth all-time.
Defensively, it was A-SUN All-Freshman Team and A-SUN All-Conference First Team member Dana Axner and the Block Party (VanLiew, senior A-SUN All-Conference First Team member Sharonda Pickering, junior Dani Serrano and A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Tori Morris) that remained strong.
Axner finished with 15 digs, an ace and an assist. With her 15 digs, the A-SUN Freshman and Defensive Player of the Year now has 551 and is eight away from passing Vanessa Benke (558, 2014-15) for second all-time.
Meanwhile, the Block Party hit a combined 22 total blocks (five solo) with junior Dani Serrano leading the squad. Serrano finished 10 blocks (two solo) in her name to go with her six kills.
Serrano made record-breaking moments in the match as her 10 blocks tied the program's Division-I record for the third time in her career. Serrano's two solo blocks put her at 53, passing Ericka Fonseca (51, 2005-06) for second all-time. Serrano is 11 away from passing Olivia Mesner (62, 2011-14) as the all-time leader.
In addition, Serrano is now the first Eagle to reach 300 career block assists as she finished the match with eight and has now 301 career blocks assists. Furthermore, Serrano's 10 total blocks extend to 353 in her career.
Serrano's six kills put her at 599 in her career and needs one to become the 14th player to reach 600 kills and the first player to have 600 kills and 300 blocks in her career.
Serrano's six kills put her at 599 in her career and needs one to become the 14th player to reach 600 kills and the first player to have 600 kills and 300 blocks in her career.
Pickering (four blocks) and Morris (two blocks) finished with two kills each.
Although she did not get any kills or blocks, junior Giogio Borgiotti contributed with four digs in the match.
"For me, it's not going back to the championship because I'm only a freshman," said Axner. "But I'm so excited and the feeling is great and I just want to keep going and see how far we can go with this team."
In addition to the win, long time assistant coach Daniel Mahy earned his 263rd win with FGCU and 292nd overall while first-time FGCU assistant coach Stephanie Zelinski earned her 54th career win as a coach.
For the Lady Flames, none reached to double digit kills. Junior A-SUN All-Conference Second Team member Anna Gragg and senior Victoria Baptisita were the closest to reaching that as they finished with eight kills each. Goodwin added five blocks while Baptista added an ace, a block and six digs.
Junior A-SUN All-Conference First Team member Casey Goodwin finished behind Gragg with seven kills, four blocks and three digs.
Junior A-SUN All-Conference Second Team member Kainah Williams and A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Lilly Kruse finished with five kills each. Williams added two blocks, while Kruse added an ace and 11 digs.
Junior A-SUN All-Academic Team member Hannah Morris finished with 22 assists, two kills and three digs.
Senior Margaret Latchford finished with 13 digs and five assists.
Meanwhile, host #2 Kennesaw State (24-6) battled in a back-and-forth match as they defeated #3 Lipscomb (18-12) 3-2 (25-23, 23-25, 26-24, 21-25, 15-13).
"I have nothing but unbelievable things to say about our opponent tonight," said Kennesaw head coach Keith Schunzel. "They played as well as a team could play tonight, and that was one of the highest-level college volleyball matches I have ever been a part of. I thought both teams laid their hearts on the line and in a way I'm sick to my stomach for those guys. They could not have played better and looser, they were so prepared… That was an incredible championship level night."
Sophomore A-SUN All-Conference First Team member Lauren Chastang led the Owls offensively with 21 kills and eight digs.
Fellow sophomore Quin Sutphin followed Chastang with 12 kills and five blocks.
"I think when you get to this level and this time of the season you need your best kids to come up with their best performances," said Schunzel on the team's performance. "I've said it a couple times this year, Lauren Chastang with the ball at the end of the game, I'll take that bet any day of the week. Sydni was really good tonight, hitting over .300 and Liesl made some big blocks and had some big swings, hit over .300 with 10 kills. Quin Sutphin had a really nice night, came up with a couple huge blocks on Nusbaum late when we needed it. I'm blown away by the level of that match. Super proud of our team for pulling that out."
Junior A-SUN Setter of the Year and A-SUN All-Conference First Team member Lexi Broadwater finished with 55 assists, six kills, four blocks and six digs.
Seniors A-SUN All-Conference Second Team and A-SUN All-Academic Team member Liesl Engelbrecht and Sydni Shelton finished with 10 kills and four blocks each.
Defensively, senior Karla Radillo and sophomore Karlee Grover finished in double digit blocks (10, Radillo; 16, Grover). Radillo also added an assist and an ace, while Grover added three assists and two aces.
"The higher level volleyball you go the more it comes down to one play and tonight at the very, very end Sydni Shelton came up with a huge kill, Karla Radillo came up with a huge serve out of the timeout and Liesl Engelbrecht came up with the match winning block, and it was one of those matches," said Schunzel. "Early on it felt like it was going to come down to one play or two plays, and it did, and our group just kept believing and kept fighting. Frankly, Lipscomb could have won just as easily. Incredible match to be a part of and really proud of both teams, but really proud of our team certainly."
Senior A-SUN All-Conference First Team member Carlyle Nusbaum was the driving force for Lipscomb as she was all over the floor. The Overland Park, Kansas native recorded 22 kills, seven digs and six blocks and etched her name in the record book in the process. With her 18th kill of the night, Nusbaum fittingly became Lipscomb’s all-time kills leader with 1,751. That number also places her second all-time in A-SUN history, surpassing former Bison Alex Kelly – who totaled 1,746.The Bisons (18-12) played one of their best games offensively of the season, hitting at an efficient rate of .366 and finished the match with a season high 75 kills.
Senior Lauren Anderson had a season high 20 digs. She had double-digit digs in each of her final 11 games of the season.
Sophomore Megan Kuper added 17 kills while hitting at an impressive .471 clip while sophomore Samantha Rubal added 16 kills with a .842 clip.
Senior Ca'Layci Coffey produced eight kills and hit .300 in her final match.
Junior A-SUN All-Academic Team member Morgan Elmore had a team high 47 assists while senior Marcella Emmanuelli added 17.
A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Logan Gish finished with nine kills
For the finals, this will be the Eagles' third straight finals appearance and the second straight against Kennesaw, who entering their second straight finals. Last year, the Owls punched their ticket to the national tournament while the Eagles finished runner-up.
11 teams have punched their tickets to the national tournament: #1 Brigham Young (WCC), #2 Stanford (PAC-12), #3 Minnesota (Big Ten), #5 Texas (Big 12), #10 Pittsburgh (ACC), #21 UCF (AAC), Yale (Ivy), #11 Kentucky (SEC), Cal Poly (Big West), Colorado State (MWC) and Iona (MAAC). All 11 teams do not have a conference tournament as it is based on their regular season. I never understood why though.
From all Power 5 School, #4 Illinois, #6 Nebraska, T-#7 Wisconsin and Penn State, and #12 Purdue (Big Ten), #14 Southern California (USC) and #16 Oregon (PAC-12), and #13 Florida (SEC) have an at-large bid in the national tournament.
Up Next:
Up Next:
The A-SUN Conference Volleyball Tournament finals will take place between FGCU and Kennesaw. The winner will punch their ticket to the 2018 NCAA National Volleyball Tournament.
If FGCU loses, they can still decide whether or not to compete in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship tournament (NIVC).
No comments:
Post a Comment