Having already won the A-SUN Conference Regular Season Championship, FGCU is going for their first ever NCAA National Tournament appearance, while for Kennesaw, who is defending the A-SUN Conference Tournament Championship, are going for their second straight NCAA National Tournament appearance.
If FGCU wins, they go to the national tournament. If Kennesaw wins, they go to the national tournament while the Eagles choose the option to play in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC).
In the end, a winner was crowned, and in a nail biter of a match, it was FGCU (26-6) that finally got their moment as they defeated Kennesaw State (24-7) 3-2 (25-20, 27-25, 22-25, 17-25, 15-12). With the win, the Eagles are not only 15-11 against the Owls and extended their winning streak to 15 straight matches which tied their 2012 and 2016 seasons, but they are now the A-SUN Conference Tournament Champions and have punched their ticket to the 2018 NCAA National Volleyball Tournament for the first time in program history.
"This is a special night for our program and players," FGCU head coach and A-SUN Coach of the Year Matt Botsford said. "A lot of hard work has gone into this, and there is nothing more rewarding as a coach than seeing your team getting to celebrate a moment like that."
The Eagles managed to fight through the first two sets with the second being the toughest, but the Owl buckled the Eagles, forcing them to drop their third and fourth sets and send it to a fifth set.
After the Eagles led the fifth set 8-4 before switching side, the Owls managed to rally to tie the score to 11-11, but soon a costly service error from sophomore A-SUN All-Conference First Team member Lauren Chastang extended the Eagles lead to 14-12 before a costly attack error from A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Dani Ballou saved the Eagles' wings as they sealed the deal for the match and championship point.
"We had to make a pretty big change going into that fifth set," Botsford said. "We didn't put any kind of service pressure on them in that fourth game. Our offense was passive. We knew the difference was going to be if we could still be aggressive in that fifth set when everything is on the line, and I thought our girls did an excellent job at that."
Offensively, the reins were taken over by the trio of junior A-SUN All-Conference Second Team member Dani Serrano and sophomores Snowy Burnam and A-SUN All-Conference First Team member, A-SUN All-Academic Team member and A-SUN Player of the Year Cortney VanLiew.
Serrano finished with 13 kills and five blocks (two solo). With her 13 kills, Serrano became the 14th player to reach 600 career kills as she has 612 in her career. Defensively with her two solo blocks, Serrano now has 55 in her career and is nine away from passing Olivia Mesner (62, 2011-14) as the all-time leader. With her three blocks assists, Serrano extends her amount to 304 and with her five total blocks, the amount was extended to 358 in her career.
"(Dani) has been huge for us," Botsford said. "She's been starting since she was a freshman. She's a rock, one of the most competitive kids you'll ever know. You just can't see it as much because (her emotions are) not as outward as some of our other players, but there's this inner drive for her. You can trust her in these big moments. She just did fantastic for us."
"All I can use is the word excited," Serrano said. "I think it's fitting - excited. That's all I can think of right now. I'm so proud of my team. It was such a roller coaster of emotion. There were times when I was just so frustrated. Obviously, giving up wasn't an option, but coach just told us not to get down on ourselves. I know what it's like when we work together, and I just couldn't let that slip. I was trying to keep everyone together. It was hard, but I think it showed in the fifth set that we really came together and showed out."
VanLiew and Burnam finished with a double-double each (VanLiew: 13 kills and 12 digs, Burnam 12 kill and 16 digs). VanLiew also added a career-high four aces and a block while Burnam added an ace, an assist and two blocks. VanLiew's 13 kills put her at 753 in her career while Burnam's 12 put her at 424 in her career. VanLiew's 12 digs make her the 18th Eagle to reach 500 career digs as she now has 513.
Junior Giogio Borgiotti finished with five kills, a dig and three blocks. With her five kills, the Vienna, Virginia native now has 486 career kills and is 14 away from becoming the 16th player to reach 500 career kills.
Assist wise, senior A-SUN All-Conference Second Team member, A-SUN All-Academic Team member and A-SUN Scholar-Athlete of the Year Maggie Rick and A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Chelsea Lockey handled it with ease. Rick would finish with 34 assists, while Lockey finished with 18 with both finishing with four digs each. Rick also added a kill. With her 34 assists, Rick now has 4,500 career assists. In addition to her four digs, Rick now has 807 digs in her career.
Defensively, it was once again A-SUN All-Freshman Team and All-Conference First Team member Dana Axner and the Block Party (VanLiew, seniors A-SUN All-Conference First Team member Sharonda Pickering and Kaiti Krivdo, Serrano, Borgiotti, Burnam and A-SUN All-Freshman Team member Tori Morris) kept the defense in line. Of course the Block Party would do that because they ranked in the top 5 in the nation in opponents hitting percentage (Hello!!!).
Axner finished with 27 digs, an ace, and three assists, which included a huge assist that helped Rick get the kill in the fourth set. With her 27 digs, The A-SUN Freshman and Defensive Player of the Year passed Vanessa Benke (558, 2014-15) for second all-time in most digs in a single season. Axner now has 578 and is now 29 away from passing Whitney Hendry's 2005 season dig record (606) and holding the all-time single season digs record. In fact, Axner has became the program's single-season digs record holder in the Division-I era this season. In addition, Axner's digs put her 15th all-time in her career and is 27 digs away from passing Christine Pinder (603, 2012-13) for 14th all-time. I'll be honest, I was a little doubtful that Axner would accomplish this season digs record, but from what I've seen, she does have a very solid chance to do so.
Meanwhile, the Block Party had a combined 56 kills and 23 total blocks (six solo) with Morris leading the way with six blocks (one solo). Morris also added four kills and a dig while Pickering (five blocks, one solo) added nine kills.
Along with Krivdo's one block, sophomore Alayna Ryan and senior Karissa Rhoades also contributed in the match. Ryan contributed with a dig while Rhoades contributed with three digs. Rhoades now has 874 and is 11 away from passing Heather Van Olst (884, 2004-06) for eighth all-time.
Along with that, Botsford earned his 115th win as head coach for the Eagles, long time assistant coach Daniel Mahy earned his 263rd win with FGCU and his 292nd overall and first-time FGCU assistant coach Stephanie Zelinski earned her 54rd career win. In fact for coach Mahy, the first round match of the national tournament will be his ninth appearance. The previous eight appearances were when FGCU was an NCAA DII independent.
For the Owls, senior Sydni Shelton led the way offensively as she finished her final match with 18 kills and three blocks.
Fellow senior and A-SUN All-Conference Second Team and All-Academic Team member Liesl Engelbrecht finished her final match with 13 kills and five blocks.
Sophomore A-SUN All-Conference First Team members Lauren Chastang and junior A-SUN Setter of the Year Lexi Broadwater each finished with a double-double. Chastang finished with 11 kills and 16 digs while adding two aces and two blocks while Broadwater had 54 assists and 12 digs while adding four kills, two aces and five blocks.
Ballou and sophomore Quin Sutphin finished with eight kills each. Ballou also added three digs and a block while Sutphin added five blocks and a dig. Sophomore Karlee Grover finished with 29 digs, three assists and one ace while freshman Bri Becerra finished with a kill and 11 digs. Freshman Jessie Cohen and senior Karla Radillo also contributed for the Owls. Cohen contributed with an ace and two digs while Radillo added an assist and three digs.
The A-SUN All-Tournament Team was announced afterwards:
Representing Kennesaw was Shelton, Engelbrecht and Broadwater.
Representing FGCU was Axner, VanLiew and Serrano. Serrano was also named the A-SUN All-Tournament Team MVP. In fact, Serrano is the first middle blocker to win A-SUN Championship MVP since Katie Rose (Lipscomb) did so in 2011.
Senior A-SUN All-Conference First Team member Carlyle Nusbaum was also named on the all-tournament team, but was not in attendance due to being eliminated by Kennesaw in the semifinals.
In the end for Kennesaw, the four seniors, Shelton, Engelbrecht, Radillo and Maddie Jones, and their season has come to an end.
"The four seniors finished their careers tonight by playing an incredible match and I'm so sad for them, but so happy for them too, said Schunzel on his seniors. "They finish as the winningest class in program history and changed not only this program, but my family and this athletic department. We will be forever indebted to all that they've given all of us."
The Eagles are now one of 15 teams to punch their ticket to the national tournament as they join the following teams. 10 of the teams listed do not have a conference tournament as it is based on their regular season:
#1 Brigham Young (WCC)*
#2 Stanford (PAC-12)*
#3 Minnesota (Big Ten)*
#5 Texas (Big 12)*
#10 Pittsburgh (ACC)*
#11 Kentucky (SEC)*
#21 UCF (AAC)*
Yale (Ivy)*
Cal Poly (Big West)*
Colorado State (MW)*
Iona (MAAC)
Stony Brook (AEC)
Bryant (NEC)
Murray State (OVC)
Iona, Stony Brook, Bryant and Murray State played on the same day as FGCU. 17 conference tournaments remain to be played along with the choosing of at-large bids. With that being said, the Eagles are going to the national tournament for the first time in program history and I'm super happy that they got this opportunity of a lifetime to go.
I would love to travel with the team and see them play in the national tournament. In fact, it would be my second ever time I get to go to the national tournament since March 2018 when I went with the FGCU women's basketball team in Stanford. Boy that would be an adventure of a lifetime for me.
Up Next:
The question now is who will we face and what region will we be in? Well here's the answer: we don't know. We could face anybody ranging from California Poly of the Big West and face them in the BYU Regional hosted by #1 BYU or we could play #3 Minnesota and play them in the Minnesota Regional. The amount of tension and stress can vary, so it's anybody's guess and will be answered on the NCAA Tournament Selection Show.
NCAA Tournament Selection Show and Info:
The NCAA Division-I women's volleyball championship bracket will be announced on Sunday, Nov. 25 at 8:30 p.m. on ESPNU. The first and second rounds will be held at 16 non-predetermined campus sites Nov. 29 - Dec. 1. At each campus site, four teams will compete in a single-elimination format. The winner advances to regionals Dec. 7-8. The final four teams will compete Dec. 13 and 15 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Below is a photo of the team holding the conference banner and I even did a special message for them on Twitter via Periscope.
Link: https://www.pscp.tv/w/1zqKVOvMawYGB
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| The Team holding the A-SUN banner. Photo Credit: Lib Jordan |
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