FGCU VB: Homewood Suites Fort Myers Classic Day Two Recap

The FGCU volleyball team (3-0) completed the sweep at the Homewood Suites Fort Myers Classic at the Alico Arena as they shutout Bryant (0-3) 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-23) in an early morning match before defeating San Diego State (2-1) in 3-2 nail biter (22-25, 25-23, 25-23, 22-25, 15-11).

"I'm really pleased for the girls," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "It was pretty spotty in the beginning. I was happy we kept the first set close because the serve and pass from both sides wasn't clean. It just wasn't a really quality brand of volleyball, but again, it's early in the season. You expect it. The second set, we come out in a big deficit and the fact that they stayed together and plugged away, we stole that set. From there, everything improved. Statistically, it was never great but we gutted it out, competed and found some ways to disrupt their hitters, which was a real struggle early on. So, I'm really, really happy with our response after the beginning of the match."

FGCU vs Bryant:
Offensively, no Eagle reached double digit kills. Junior Cortney VanLiew led the team with nine kills while adding two aces and seven dig while freshman Erin Shomaker followed with eight kills and .

Sophomore Chelsea Lockey took in 32 assists to go with her four blocks.

Defensively, it was sophomore Dana Axner and the Block Party that took over. Axner finished with 16 digs and an ace while the Block Party (senior Giovanna Borgiotti, VanLiew and junior Snowy Burnam and sophomore Tori Morris) had nine total blocks (one solo). Borgiotti and Morris added five kills each while Burnam added two.

For the Bulldogs, sophomore Haley O'Brien led the way offensively with 11 kills while junior Alisi Motu'apuaka produced 13 assists. Defensively, freshman Emma McGovern had 11 digs to go with her six kills.

After FGCU's match, Akron defeated Bryant by a score of 3-1.

FGCU vs San Diego State:
In a thrilling nightcap against San Diego State, the Eagles lost the opening set and faced a 20-15 deficit in the second. VanLiew, who had a team-high 21 kills, helped her team respond with a pair of kills and an ace to highlight a 6-0 run that gave FGCU a 21-20 lead. Moments later, Shoemaker's solo block gave the Green and Blue a two-point win to even up the match.

The third set featured a four-point deficit for FGCU, but VanLiew had four kills in the set alone to help lead her team to a come-from-behind 25-23 win. SDSU answered back to even the match, but the duo of VanLiew and Borgiotti, who had three kills apiece in the final set, helped the Eagles claim a thrilling win.

The highlight of the match was a career-best performance from junior Alayna Ryan, who tallied a career-high 12 digs and added a pair of aces. Defensively, the Eagles were paced by 25 digs from Axner, while Burnam chipped in 17. In addition to Axner's 16, redshirt senior Amanda Carroll added eight digs, and VanLiew contributed seven. Meanwhile, Morris led all players with five blocks, although Jones and Shomaker each had four. As a team, the Eagles recorded 22 blocks (three solo).

Outside of VanLiew, who added 10 digs for her first double-double of the season, senior Daniele Serrano and Borgiotti added 11 and nine kills, respectively, to pace the offense. Lockey finished with a career-high 54 assists, while Serrano had a team-high five blocks (one solo).

Senior Hannah Turnlund led the team with a double-double of 24 kills and 16 digs while junior Camryn Machado had a double-double of 55 assists and 20 digs along with five aces. Sophomore Victoria O'Sullivan followed Turnlund with 18 kills and three blocks.

Defensively for the Aztecs, redshirt junior Loren Teter had a team-high 24 digs while senior Tamia Reeves had six blocks to go with her 10 kills.

The Homewood Suites Fort Myers All-Classic Team was announced afterwards:
For FGCU, VanLiew and Axner were named to the team with Axner being named the MVP. For Bryant, it Motu'apuaka, Machado and Turnlund represented San Diego State and for Akron it was junior Taylor Sharrits.

Notes:
VanLiew's 30 kills in both matches put her at 842 in her career and is now 85 shy of passing Kaitlin Holm (926, 2011-13) for fourth all-time in the program's Division I era and fifth all-time in program history.

In the match against Bryant, Borgiotti became the 16th player to reach 500 kills. Adding the nine kills against San Diego State, Borgiotti now has 509 in her career. She is 64 shy of passing Leigh Pudwill (572, 2015-16) for 15th all-time.

Burnam's 10 total kills in the classic put her at 461 in her career as she passed Christine Pinder (453, 2012-13) and Marlene Moeller (453, 2012-16) for 19th all-time. She needs 39 more kills to become the 17th player to reach 500 kills.

Serrano's 11 kills put her at 638 and is 12 away from passing passing Jelena Semic (649, 2009, 2011) for 13th all-time. As for her blocking, Serrano's four block assists put her at 317 while her one solo block put her at 55 as she remains second all-time. Serrano is eight away from passing Olivia Mesner (62, 2011-13). In total career blocks, Serrano has 372.

Axner pushed her three-match season dig total to 69 this year, pushing her career total to 693 and pushing her past Vanessa Benke (681, 2013-15) for eighth place on the program's Division I era list. Next up is Maggie Rick (823, 2015-18).

The two wins gave Botsford his 117th and 118th career wins while for longtime assistant coach Daniel Mahy second year assistant coach Stephanie Zelinski. Mahy earned his 268th and 269th wins as an Eagle and his 296th and 297th overall wins while Zelinski has 58 career wins as a coach.

The Homewood Suites Fort Myers All-Classic Team was announced afterwards:
For FGCU, VanLiew and Axner were named to the team with Axner being named the MVP. For Bryant, it Motu'apuaka, Machado and Turnlund represented San Diego State and for Akron it was junior Taylor Sharrits.

Up Next:
FGCU will now hit the road for three weeks with the next stop coming at the Hurricane Invitational hosted by the University of Miami this coming weekend where the Eagles will face South Florida (2-0), Auburn (1-2) and George Washington (2-1). The team will next play at home on Sept. 27.