The No. 3 seed FGCU beach volleyball team (17-10) survived an 11-hour marathon day at the A-SUN tournament on Friday by defeating 5th-seeded Austin Peay (15-15) 3-0 and 4th-seeded Coastal Carolina (21-11) 3-2 at Cooper Beach on the campus of Stetson University. The Eagles will now face North Florida (20-13) at 11 a.m. Saturday in a loser's bracket final with the winner advancing to the winner-take-all championship match at 1 p.m. against top-seeded and nationally 8th-ranked Stetson (28-8).
Due to impending weather, all matches on Friday were moved up at least 90 minutes and played to clinch. Thus, FGCU had to arrive at the court at 6:45 a.m. for a 7:30 a.m. match. After dispatching Austin Peay in a sweep, the Eagles got underway against Coastal Carolina at 12:35 p.m.
As feared, however, the match was suspended due to lightning just after 2 p.m. with the Eagles leading 2-1 and the other pairs in progress. Then, after a three-plus hour delay, Coastal Carolina evened up the match with a win in the third set of the No. 4 pair. However, seniors Karissa Rhoades and Katherine Puisis finished off a two-set sweep at the No. 2 spot to advance the Green and Blue.
"Amanda and KG had a great win in the second set against Coastal that extended things to a third," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "That comeback ended up being a huge result for our group. Katie and Karissa played an outstanding match in a position where the overall team result hung in the balance. As we have come to expect, they were outstanding when it mattered most. That's the benefit of having seniors in that position."
Prior to the break against Coastal Carolina, senior Amanda Carroll and freshman Kirstine Garder fought off three match points to win the second set, and then the duo claimed the third to put the Eagles up 2-1. That proved to be critical once the Chanticleers claimed the four pair after the lightning delay.
Sophomores Snowy Burnam and Kayla Whetstone, meanwhile, continued to roll with a hard-fought 21-18, 21-17 win over Austin Peay to open the day, which was followed by a 21-18, 21-18 win over Coastal Carolina. The No. 3 pair is now 23-4 overall this year while winning eight straight and 12 of their past 13 matches - and seven of those past eight have come in straight sets.
Notes
With the win over Austin Peay, FGCU set a new single-season wins record. Including both wins on Friday, the Eagles now have 17 after recording 15 in each of the past two seasons.
Garder became the program's single-season wins leader for a freshman with her triumph in the finale. She now has 17 victories this year, which moves her past Burnam and Whestone's 16 from last season.
Rhoades became the program's first-ever 60-game winner with the win over Coastal Carolina. She is now 60-34 (.638) in her career, while Puisis is 56-31. Carroll is one shy of her 50th win, as well.
On top of that, Burnam and Whetstone slid past Mackenzie Allen (2015-18) and Ashley Glickert (2015-18) for sole possession of sixth-place on the program's career wins list with 39.
This will be the first time the Eagles have played at least five matches at the A-SUN tournament. The previous record of four was set in each of the past three seasons.
The win over Austin Peay represented the first-ever meeting between the two programs. Meanwhile, the Eagles improved to 7-0 all-time against Coastal Carolina.
Should FGCU defeated UNF and Stetson on Saturday, they would have a win over each seed in the tournament after having already defeated No. 6 North Alabama, No. 5 Austin Peay and No. 4 Coastal Carolina.
Full Tournament Results
Thursday
Match 1: No. 4 Coastal Carolina d. No. 5 Austin Peay 5-0
Match 2: No. 3 FGCU d. No. 6 North Alabama 5-0
Match 3: No. 1 Stetson d. No. 4 Coastal Carolina 4-1
Match 4: No. 2 North Florida d. No. 3 FGCU 3-2
Friday
Match 5: No. 3 FGCU d. No. 5 Austin Peay 3-0
Match 6: No. 4 Coastal Carolina d. No. 6 North Alabama 3-0
Match 7: No. 1 Stetson d. No. 2 North Florida 3-1
Match 8: No. 3 FGCU d. No. 4 Coastal Carolina 3-2
Saturday
Match 9: No. 2 North Florida vs No. 3 FGCU, 11 a.m.
Championship: No. 1 Stetson vs Match 9 winner, 1 p.m.
FULL RESULTS
FGCU 3, Austin Peay 0
1. Carroll/Garder d. Panning/Turner 21-14, 26-24
2. Puisis/Rhoades - unfinished
3. Burnam/Whetstone d. Gerig/Stitt 21-18, 21-17
4. Hansen/Borgiotti - unfinished
5. VanLiew/Ryan d. Arrington/Waite 21-15, 21-17
FGCU 3, Coastal Carolina 2
1. Carroll/Garder (FGCU) d. Alvis/Hardeman 14-21, 24-22, 15-8
2. Puisis/Rhoades (FGCU) d. Boyer/Campbell 21-6, 21-14
3. Burnam/Whetstone (FGCU) Federico/Gauthier 21-18, 21-18
4. Djuric/Ladewig (CC) d. Hansen/Borgiotti 11-21, 21-19, 15-11
5. Nemeth/Eske (CC) d. VanLiew/Ryan 21-16, 21-17
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