"I thought the story tonight was the serve and pass game," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "Our passers did an excellent job, and that really kicked off the offense. The offensive numbers were good. We limited the errors we were making and the ones that we did make were good, solid errors trying to be aggressive."
Junior Cortney VanLiew totaled 16 kills over 20 attempts with just one error. Not only did her kill output match North Alabama's entire team combined, but her .750 attack percentage was the best in the program's Division I era (2007-present) among players with at least 20 attempts.
Additionally, VanLiew now sits at 999 career kills, which puts her just one shy of becoming just the fourth player in program history with at least 1,000 - joining Amanda Carroll (1,424), Brooke Youngquist Sweat (1,173) and Olivia Mesner (1,132).
"I haven't really been keeping track (of how close I am to the record)," VanLiew said. "People just keep telling me how close I am. It would be an awesome milestone to accomplish, and I know that I'll be in good company with those other three players."
Maybe the most impressive thing about VanLiew's night was that she played just two sets. She had nine kills in the opening frame at a .615 clip and then hammered home seven more over seven attempts in the second.
As a team, FGCU scored the first five points of the match and led 14-3 following back-to-back kills from Erin Shomaker and Daniele Serrano. A kill from Aja Jones pushed the lead to 22-7 before VanLiew scored the final three points of the set for the Green and Blue via kills.
An 11-0 run midway through the second set allowed the Eagles to take an 18-3 lead, with the run being capped by a Giovanna Borgiotti kill. Despite North Alabama splitting the next 12 points with FGCU, Snowy Burnam smacked home a right-side kill for a two-set lead.
The visiting Lions scored the first three points of the third set, but the Green and Blue scored nine of the next 12 points en route to finishing off the sweep.
Outside of VanLiew, Shomaker added seven kills at a .417 clip, while Burnam had six and Jones had five. Chelsey Lockey had 37 of the team's 46 assists, while Dana Axner chipped in three.
Meanwhile, Axner had a match-high 15 digs. Amanda Carroll added seven, and Burnam had six. At the net, Tori Morris had the team's lone solo block, while Jones (4) and Burnam (3) combined for seven of the 12 block assists.
Notes:
The previous single-match hitting percentage record was held by Jacqueline Cowden (.731), which was set on Sept. 26, 2009 vs North Florida, and VanLiew's percentage fell just short of the overall mark of .762 set by Ericka Fonseca against LIU Post (FGCU was a Division II program from 2004-06).
Axner is now eight digs shy of surpassing Karissa Rhoades (877, 2015-18) for sixth-place on the program's Division I era career digs list.
Friday night's match represented the first time in Carroll's career that she did not record a single attack attempt.
With her assist output, Lockey became the seventh player in program history to reach 1,000 in a career. She now sits at 1,010 and is 80 shy of surpassing Camil Dominguez (1,089, 2010-11) for sixth all-time.
Serrano's four kills put her at 705 in her career and needs 26 to pass Jill Hopper (725, 2011-13) for eighth all-time. Her one block put her at 406 in her career and needs three more to surpass Jacksonville's Danielle Neville (408.0., 2002-05) for fourth all-time. Serrano remains second all-time in career solo blocks (60) and needs three to pass Olivia Mesner (62, 2011-14) as the all-time leader in solo blocks.
Longtime assistant coach Daniel Mahy earned his 305th career win (278th with FGCU) while second year assistant coach Stephanie Zelinski earned her 66th.
Up Next:
The Eagles remain at home as they welcome Lipscomb Sunday at 2 p.m. in Alico
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