Despite a match-high 24 digs from Dana Axner, the FGCU volleyball team (10-3, 0-1) lost its conference opener to Liberty (8-5, 1-0) 25-22, 25-23, 25-22 on the road in the Vines Center on Tuesday night.
"Liberty did a great job at the net with their blocking and really disrupted our hitters from the start," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "I'm disappointed that we weren't able to extend the match when there were multiple opportunities to do so, but we just could never string points together. Offensively, we had no rhythm and that is as high error as I've seen this team play. We have a lot of work ahead of us and have to expect to be pushed like this within conference in each match we play."
Liberty's blocking provided fits for the Eagles as FGCU's offense was held to a .048 hitting percentage while the Flames totaled 24 blocks (one solo). It was the first time the Eagles have been swept in conference play since Sept. 29, 2017 against Kennesaw State.
In the opening set, neither team led by more than three in a back-and-forth set that saw the teams knotted at 20 apiece. Liberty, however, scored four straight and held off back-to-back points from the Eagles to take the early lead.
Daniele Serrano slammed home a kill in the second set to give FGCU a 20-16 lead after they fell down 4-0 to begin the set. Liberty then scored four consecutive points to knot things at 20. A short time later, FGCU saw a replay reverse a potential kill that would have given them a 23-21 lead. Instead, Giovanna Borgiotti's kill on the next point only made it 23-22 instead of 24-21. The Flames responded with the next three points to take a two-set lead.
Cortney VanLiew tapped home an errant pass to give FGCU a 22-21 lead in the third set, but Liberty called a timeout and responded with four straight points to close the match.
VanLiew had a team-high 12 kills, while Borgiotti added seven off the bench. Chelsey Lockey fell one dig shy of a double-double while totaling 27 assists, nine digs and three block assists.
Axner added two assists in addition to her 24 digs, while the trio of Serrano, Aja Jones and Lockey tied for the team-high in blocks with three apiece.
Up Next:
FGCU will be back in action this weekend with home matches against North Alabama on Friday at 7 p.m. and Lipscomb on Sunday at 2 p.m. Fans are encouraged to wear blue on Friday and can enjoy free pizza post-match while it lasts. Sunday's match will be a white out.
Notes:
Axner's 24 digs represents the third most in a three-set A-SUN regular season match in program history - just behind Holly Youngquist's 26 against Campbell on Oct. 8, 2010 and her own total of 28 against Stetson on Oct. 10 of last year. Furthermore, she now has 322 career digs in conference play alone, which places her 10th on the program's career list. In overall career digs, Axner has 855 career digs and needs 23 to surpass Karissa Rhoades (877, 2015-18) for ninth all-time.
VanLiew's 12 kills put her at 983 and remains 17 shy of becoming the fourth Eagle in program history to reach 1,000 career kills.
With her two kills, Serrano became the 10th Eagles to reach 700 career kills and tied Jill Hopper (700, 2011-13) for ninth all-time.
Borgiotti's seven kills put her at 530 in her career and remains 43 shy of passing Leigh Pudwill (572, 2015-16) for 15th all-time.
Burnam's three kills put her at 525 in her career and remains 48 shy of passing Pudwill.
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