FGCU VB @ Liberty Preview

The FGCU Volleyball team (10-2) will remain on the road as they travel to Lynchburg, Virginia to face Liberty (7-5) at the Vines Center Tuesday Night at 6 pm.

Last Time Out:
The Eagles are coming off of competing in the Sunshine State Classic this past weekend where they shutout Power 5 Miami and defeated UCF 3-1 before shutting out FAU to go 3-0. The win over Miami was the Eagles' second win against a Power 5 school this season having previously shutting out Auburn.

What It Do VanLiew:
The main leader on offense is junior Cortney VanLiew. VanLiew leads the team with 181 kills and tied for second in aces (11). VanLiew finished the Sunshine State Classic with 46 kills, 24 digs and two aces while being named a member of the Sunshine State All-Classic Team as well as the team MVP. In addition, VanLiew was recently named Co-A-SUN Player of the Week with Kennesaw State's Quin Sutphin.

Meanwhile in her career, VanLiew has 971 career kills in her name and needs 29 to become the fourth Eagles in program history to reach 1,000 career kills.

Hot and Spicy:
Senior Daniele Serrano has made history on several occasions both offensively and defensively. Serrano has 85 kills in her name while adding 39 blocks (six solo) too. At the Sunshine State Classic, Serrano 24 combined kills along with 12 blocks (two solo). Her 24 kills put her at 699 and one to become the 10th Eagle to reach 700 career kills and two to pass Jill Hopper (700, 2011-13) for ninth all-time.

Meanwhile with her blocking, Serrano earned her 400th career block against FAU and became the first Eagle to reach 400 career blocks and now has 402 in her career. Furthermore, Serrano moved into fifth place in A-SUN history as she surpassed Stetson's Ellen Hawks (400, 2010-13) and is on task to surpass Jacksonville's Danielle Neville (408.0., 2002-05) for fourth all-time. In addition, her two solo blocks put her at 60 in her careerand need three to pass Olivia Mesner (62, 2011-14) as the all-time leader in solo blocks.

Sharpen the Ax:
Sophomore Dana Axner was named a member of the Sunshine State All-Classic Team after her success result. Axner finished the classic with 55 digs and three aces. Currently, she has 207 digs (4.93 digs per set) while being named A-SUN Defensive Player of the Week. In her career so far, the native of Dublin, Ohio currently has 831 career digs after passing Maggie Rick (823, 2015-18) for 10th and needs 47 to surpass Karissa Rhoades (877, 2015-18) for ninth all-time.

The 500 Club:
Recently this season, two Eagles have made it to the 500 career kills club, senior Giovanna Borgiotti and junior Snowy Burnam. Borgiotti currently has 28 kills in her name while Burnam has 76 (4th on the team).

Borgiotti became the 16th Eagle to reach 500 after reaching the milestone against San Diego State at the Homewood Suites Fort Myers Classic and has 523 in her career. Burnam became the 17th Eagles to 500 after earning it in the match against Miami at the Sunshine State Classic and has 522 in her career.

Both Borgiotti and Burnam are on path to pass Leigh Pudwill (572, 2015-16) for 15th all-time, while being two of five current members with at least 500 kills (VanLiew, Serrano and redshirt senior Amanda Carroll).

Scouting Liberty:
The Lady Flames posted a 2-1 record at the Gators Invitational last weekend, picking up back-to-back five-set wins over Louisiana and 2018 Big Sky champion Northern Arizona. Florida transfer Macy Phillips, playing at her old home court, was named to the all-tournament team. Phillips ranks fourth in the A-SUN with 4.44 digs per set.

Senior middle blocker Anna Gragg, a three-time all-conference performer, is second in the A-SUN in both attack percentage (.389) and blocks per set (1.18).

Redshirt junior Amelia Johnson is third in the A-SUN with 3.67 kills per set. She had a career-high 19 kills against Virginia Tech on Sept. 7 and matched that total with 19 kills against Louisiana last Friday. She leads the team with 10 double-digit kill matches and four double-doubles (tied).

Senior right-side hitter Casey Goodwin, a two-time all-conference selection, was a first team All-A-SUN pick last year when she led the A-SUN with 40 aces. She needs 38 more kills to become Liberty's 16th player all-time with 1,000 or more career kills.

Senior setter Hannah Morris ranks fourth in the A-SUN with 9.81 assists per set. Her career-high 53 assists against Louisiana were the most by a Flame since Amaya Williams' 59 against Presbyterian in 2017.

Series History:
The Eagles hold a 3-0 record against the Lady Flames. The Eagles pulled out a thrilling, five-set victory on the road in the first meeting of 2018 and the teams met in the A-SUN semifinals.

How to Keep Up:
Livestats will be available and will air on ESPN+. Fans can also keep updated on both teams via Twitter:

FGCU- @FGCU_VB
Liberty- @LibertyWVB

ESPN+:
The A-SUN will air on the new, subscription-based digital platform ESPN+, which will be the new home for select FGCU and A-SUN games and event broadcasts. Subscribers can try the new app for free for 30 days, which follows to $4.99 a month fee afterwards or can pay $39.99 per-year based on the viewers subscription choice.

Livestats Link: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=264272&vislive=fguu
ESPN+ Link: https://www.espn.com/watch?id=e15e5af0-9aad-4d15-b8f6-565efe638e2c