FGCU VB vs Liberty Recap: Senior Moments

At last, at last, they are the champs. Wrapping up their final regular match of the season at home, the FGCU volleyball team (24-6, 15-1 A-SUN) were pushed to their limits once again as they defeated Liberty (14-16, 10-6 A-SUN) 3-1 (20-25, 25-21, 35-18, 2-16). With the win, the Eagles not only swept the series against the Lady Flames and extended their winning streak to 13 straight matches, which surpasses the 2008 team for the fourth-longest streak in the Division-I era, but are now the A-SUN Regular Season Champions for the first time since 2012.

"There's a lot of emotion in a game like this," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "You have five individuals who have given so much to the program that it was hard to focus on the task at hand, which was to play a really tough Liberty team. It wasn't great volleyball from our end, and we're going to have to be much better, but I expect we will be. I'm just really pleased the girls could cap off the regular season in the fashion that they did and win the championship outright.

Before the match happened, the five seniors for the Eagles were recognized for their accomplishments: Karissa Rhoades, Maggie Rick, Kaiti Krivdo, Amanda Carroll and Sharonda Pickering.

Throughout the whole match, seven Eagles set milestones by moving up in the top 20 with one becoming an all-time leader in the specific categories.

Despite redshirting for the season, Carroll was still recognized for her accomplishments.

Liberty's seniors, Victoria Baptista and Margaret Latchford, were also recognized.

For the lineup, Botsford had Rick, Krivdo and Pickering start.

Offensively, it was Pickering that led the way for the Eagles offensively and defensively. The native of  Sea Cow's Bay, Tortola, British Virgin Islands and NJCAA Hillsborough Community College all-star finished with a career-high 12 kills, one dig and five blocks. Pickering also had a .647 hitting percentage.

Rick finished her final regular season match with 21 assists, an ace, a block and three digs. Rick broke the record for most matches played with 126 as she passed Courtney Stephens (2014-17), Gigi Meyer (2011-14) and Whitney Masters (2011-14).

With her 21 assists, Rick now has 4,451 in her career, her one ace put her at 88 in her career as she tied Jill Hopper (88, 2011-13) for eighth all-time, and with her three digs, Rick reached the milestone of 800 career digs and now has 802.

"It means a lot hearing everything our entire class has accomplished," Rick said. "It's exactly what Matt brought us here to do. He talked about it in the recruiting process, and just to know that we came here and did exactly what we were supposed to do and maybe even a little bit more is really heartwarming. We're really proud of that."

"The scary thing is (Sharonda) just almost hit .700, and I never felt her and Maggie were in a great rhythm, so that tells you just how talented she is," Botsford said. "It was a little bit disjointed, but she was effective."

Junior Dani Serrano and sophomore Snowy Burnam had nine kills each while fellow sophomore Cortney VanLiew followed with seven kills and fellow junior Giogio Borgiotti had six kills and four blocks.

Serrano also added six blocks and an ace. Her nine kills put her at 593 and is now seven away from being the 14th player to reach 600 kills.

With her six blocks (all block assists), the Sanford native would accomplish another milestone as she extended her career block assist total to 293 and counting. She needs seven more to be the first Eagle to reach 300 career block assists. With her six total blocks, Serrano became an all-time leader again as she passed Olivia Mesner (342, 2011-14) as the all-time leader in total blocks (343).

For VanLiew, her seven kills put her at 724 and is now two away from passing Hopper (725) for seventh all-time.

For Borgiotti, she now has 475 kills with her six in the match and is now six away from passing Brittany Muse (480, 2009-12) for 16th all-time and is 25 away from becoming the 16th player to reach 500 kills.

Burnam, who also added an and nine digs, has also reached a milestone as she reached 400 career kills and now has 405.

Krivdo and Rhoades finished with two kills each. Rhoades also added an assist and three digs. Rhoades' three digs put her at 871 and is now 14 away from passing Heather Van Olst (884, 2004-06) for eighth all-time.

Freshman Chelsea Lockey had 18 assists, seven digs and an ace.

Defensively, it was once again freshman Dana Axner and the Block Party (Serrano, Pickering, Burnam, Borgiotti, and freshman Tori Morris) that provided the sparks.

Axner finished with 22 digs, two aces and five assists. With her 22 digs, Axner now has a team and conference leading 536 digs and passed Masters' 2014 season (519) record for third all-time in most digs in a single season. Axner is 23 away from passing Vanessa Benke's 2015 season record (558) for second all-time. The all-time season record is Whitney Hendry's 2005 season record (606).

I'm gonna be honest with the single season digs record: Axner could actually pass Benke's record, but as for Hendry's 2005 record, realistically, it's a long shot. I mean she could possibly do it, but I don't think it will happen this year.

The Block Party had a combined 22 blocks with Serrano (6), Pickering (5) and Morris (5) leading the way.

Long time assistant volleyball coach Daniel Mahy got his 262nd win with FGCU and his 291st overall while first-time FGCU assistant coach Stephanie Zelinski earned her 53rd career win.

For the Lady Flames, freshman Lilly Kruse led the way with 10 kills and three aces. Kruse was the only Lady Flame with double digit kills.

Junior Hannah Morris and sophomore Amaya Williams finished with double digit assists (22: Morris, 12: Williams).

Defensively, senior Margaret Latchford had 18 digs, three assists and an ace while redshirt freshman Kailey Macy had two solo blocks.

In other A-SUN matchups, on Friday, UNF defeated North Alabama 3-1 and while Lipscomb shutout Jacksonville 3-0.

For tonight, Kennesaw shutout Jacksonville 3-0 while UNF claimed the sixth and final spot in the conference tournament after shutting out NJIT 3-0.

Tournament Update:
The A-SUN Conference Championship Volleyball Tournament has been set in stone with the final seeds:
#1 FGCU (24-6, 15-1 A-SUN)
#2 Kennesaw (23-6, 14-2 A-SUN)
#3 Lipscomb (17-11, 12-4 A-SUN)
#4 Liberty (14-16, 10-6 A-SUN)
#5 Stetson (16-12, 8-8 A-SUN)
#6 UNF (11-21, 6-10 A-SUN)

Based on their conference records, Jacksonville (5-24, 3-13 A-SUN), NJIT (2-14, 4-28 A-SUN) and North Alabama (2-14, 4-21 A-SUN) did not qualify for tournament play.

For Jacksonville, it was the first time since 2012 that they have not reached the postseason, while for NJIT, this is the fourth straight year of not qualifying for the tournament.

As for North Alabama, it would not make much difference. If they would have won the conference, let alone qualify for it, then they would not go to the national tournament due to the four-year transitional period and the regular season champions (FGCU) would go to the national tournament.

Up Next:
The Eagles prepare for the A-SUN Conference Volleyball Tournament, hosted by Kennesaw at the KSU Convocation Center in Kennesaw, Georgia and will go from 11/15-11/17.

FGCU and Kennesaw will have a first round bye in the tournament since they are the top two seeds and play on Saturday, November 16. FGCU will await the winner between #4 Liberty and #5 Stetson while Kennesaw awaits the winner between #3 Lipscomb and #6 UNF.

The winner of the tournament punches their ticket to the 2018 NCAA National Volleyball Tournament held at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Five teams have already punched their tickets to the national tournament: #10 Pittsburgh (ACC), #21 UCF (AAC), Yale (Ivy), #2 Stanford (PAC-12) and #1 Brigham Young (WCC).

All five teams do not have a conference tournament as it is based on their regular season and regardless if they came in second place, BYU would go to the national tournament as an at-large bid. In fact, he ACC, AAC, Big 12, Big Ten, Big West, Ivy League, MAAC, Mountain West, PAC-12, SEC, and WCC do not have a conference tournament.

Along with the A-SUN, below are the list of conference that have a tournament and the dates of the championship match finals:
AEC: 11/17
A-10: 11/18
Big East: 11/24
Big Sky: 11/24
CAA: 11/18
C-USA: 11/18
Horizon: 11/18
MAC: 11/18
MEAC: 11/18
MVC: 11/24
NEC: 11/17
OVC: 11/17
Patriot: 11/18
SoCon: 11/18
Southland: 11/18
SWAC: 11/19
Summit: 11/18
Sun Belt: 11/18
WAC: 11/24