FGCU Volleyball: Bluegrass Battle Preview

The FGCU volleyball team (6-0) continues their journey on the road as they travel to Lexington, Kentucky for the Bluegrass Battle on Friday and Saturday, September 13-14. The Eagles will play against Indiana (5-2), #15 Kentucky (4-2) and Cleveland State (2-4).

Last Time Out:
The Eagles continue their best start of the season after competing in the Hurricane Invitational in Coral Gables where they defeated USF, Auburn and George Washington. The win over Auburn was the Eagles' first win over an SEC team and the third win overall against a Power 5 Conference school.

Furthermore, FGCU is one of only 23 teams across the nation that have yet to be beaten, and they are currently riding a 19-match regular season winning streak that stretches back to Oct. 7 of last year.

Ms. 900:
For junior Cortney VanLiew, she is on pace to reach 900 kills in her career. Currently, the native of Seymour, Indiana has 96 kills in her name as well as eight aces and 10 blocks. VanLiew had 44 kills, four aces and four blocks at the Hurricane Invitational, which included a double-double against George Washington. VanLiew has 886 career kills and is 14 away from becoming the sixth player to get 900 kills. In addition, VanLiew needs 41 kills to passing Kaitlin Holm (926, 2011-13) for fifth all-time.

1408:
Redshirt senior Amanda Carroll continues to add kills in her regime after finishing at the Hurricane Invitational with 10 kills and five aces. Carroll currently has 13 kills and six aces in her name. The 13 kills put her at 1,408 in her career while her six aces put her at 107 and is 33 shy of passing Ana Kokanovic (139, 2007-08) as the all-time leader.

Lock Up:
After Maggie Rick graduated, sophomore Chelsea Lockey has done her part of taking over for the all-time assists leader. Lockey currently has 237 assists on the year and 713 in her career (7th all-time). At the Hurricane Invitational, Lockey had 103 assists and 28 digs. The 103 assists pushed her Ciara Sandoval (679, 2005) for 7th all-time. She needs 287 to become the seventh player to reach 1,000 career digs and 376 to pass Camil Dominguez (1,089 2010-11) for sixth all-time.

Paul Bunyan's Apprentice:
Sophomore Dana Axner currently leads the way with 109 digs (5.19 digs per set) and has 733 in her career (12th all-time). The defending A-SUN Defensive Player of the Year had 40 at the Hurricane Invitational and needs 33 to pass Chandra Lefever (765, 2006-07, 09) for 11th all-time.

Shoe Fly:
For freshman Erin Shoemaker, she has been on wavelengths offensively and defensively. Shoemaker, who has 40 kills and 12 blocks, had 15 total kills in wins over USF and Auburn, was named the ASUN's freshman of the week on Monday. She had eight kills over 11 attempts (.727) against USF and seven kills in 12 attempts vs Auburn (.583). She also totaled two digs and four blocks (two solo) on the week.

"Erin did a great job for us this weekend in a role that was really important, coming off the bench and changing the complexity of the game with her blocking and attacking," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "She had really good decision making, cutting down on errors. Her hitting efficiency and kill percentage were a big part of our success this weekend."

Mojo 500:
In the match against Bryant, senior Giovanna "Giogio" Borgiotti earned her 500th career kill with the team and became the 16th Eagle in doing so and now has 517 in her career. Borgiotti is 56 shy of passing Leigh Pudwill (572, 2015-16) for 15th all-time. Currently, Borgiotti has 22 kills and five blocks in her name. At the Hurricane Invitational, she had five kills and four blocks.

A Winter Wonderland:
Junior Snowy Burnam is also on pace to becoming the 17th Eagle to reach 500 kills. Burnam has 34 kills in her name thus far and has 484 in her career after passing Brittany Muse (480, 2009-12) for 17th all-time. Burnam needs 16 more kills to become the 17th player to reach 500 career kills.

Spice Burns:
Senior Daniele Serrano is second on the team in kills (44) and is tied for second with Burnam in blocks (14). Serrano's 44 kills put her at 658 and is seven away from passing Jelena Semic (649, 2009, 2011) for 13th all-time and 42 shy of becoming the 10th player to reach 700 career kills. As for her blocking, Serrano has 377 total blocks (all-time leader), 320 block assists (all-time leader) and 57 (2nd all-time). Serrano is six away from passing Olivia Mesner (62, 2011-13) as the all-time leader in solo blocks.

World Tor:
Defensively, sophomore Tori Morris has become a key factor in blocking as she leads the team with 22 blocks (two solo) to go with her 23 kills. Morris had 14 kills and 12 blocks at the Hurricane Invitational.

Block Party 2.0:
The Block Party 2.0, (Serrano, Borgiotti, Burnam, VanLiew, Morris, Shoemaker and freshman Aja Jones) have a combined 86 total blocks (14 solo). The squad had 33 blocks at the Hurricane Invitational.

Assist Life:
Longtime assistant coach Daniel Mahy has also reached his milestone. Mahy earned his 272nd career win as a coach for FGCU and his 300th overall win as a coach. Mahy enters his 14th season as assistant coach with the exclusion of two seasons at DII Barry University.

Scouting Indiana:
The Hoosiers are coming off of competing in the Hoosier Invitational where they split day one with 3-0 shutout win over Oregon State and a 3-2 loss to Oklahoma before defeating Yale 3-1.

Offensively, sophomore Breana Edwards leads the team with 105 kills with 32 digs while senior Deyshia Lofton follows with 70 kills and leads the team with 32 blocks (seven solo).

Defensively, freshman Haley Armstrong lead the team with 97 digs while the senior Jacqui Armer follows Lofton with 28 blocks.

Scouting Kentucky:
The Wildcats dropped from being ranked #12 to #15 after competing in the UNI Tournament where they fell 3-1 to then #23 Creighton (now #17) before defeating then #15 USC (now #20) 3-1 and then shutting out RV host Northern Illinois (unranked) 3-0.

Offensively, the Wildcats are led by senior Leah Edmond and sophomore Alli Stumler. Edmond leads the team with 80 while Stumler has 67 kills in her name as well as eight aces. Junior Madison Lilley has 234 assists and 16 blocks.

Defensively, grad student Leah Meyer leads the team with 24 blocks to go with her 40 kills while junior Gabby Curry has 96 digs in her name.

Scouting Cleveland State:
The Vikings last competed in the Hampton Ball State Invitational where they defeated Butler (3-2) and Charlotte (3-0) in the first two matches before falling to host Ball State (3-1).

Offensively, senior Trinniti Hall and junior Hannah Greene lead the team offensively. Hall has a team-leading 87 kills in her name as well as a team-leading 10 aces and 20 blocks (four solo) while Greene has 78 kills and a team-leading 28 blocks (seven solo). Sophomore Christina Grecol has 239 assists in her name offensively.

Defensively, aside from Greene and Hall's combing 48 blocks, sophomore Lindsey Tout has 96 digs in her name while junior Emily DeGeorge follows with 84.

Series History:
While it will be the first time FGCU plays Kentucky and Cleveland State, the series against Indiana will be the third time both teams play with the series tied at 1-1. The first time was at the Homewood Suites Classic at FGCU where the Eagles won 3-2 (9/10/16). The Hoosiers would return the favor and defeat the Eagles 3-2 in the Hoosier Classic (9/16/17).

Scheduling:
9/13-
FGCU vs Indiana (10 am)
UK vs Cleveland State (noon)
Indiana vs Cleveland State (6 pm)
FGCU vs Kentucky (8:30 pm)

9/14-
Cleveland vs FGCU (1 pm)
Indiana vs UK (4 pm)

How to Keep Up:
Livestats will be available for all six matches. For the match against Indiana, it will be livestream audio only while the match against Kentucky will be livestream on the SEC/ESPN+ Network.

Fans can keep up with all the teams on Twitter:
FGCU: @FGCU_VB
Kentucky: @KentuckyVB
Indiana: @IndianaVB
Cleveland State: @ClevelandSt_VB

ESPN+:

The new, subscription-based digital platform ESPN+ will be the new home for select FGCU, A-SUN and other conferences 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 a $39.99 a year based on the viewers subscription choice.

Livestats Link:
vs Indiana: https://ukathletics.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
vs Kentucky: https://ukathletics.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
vs Cleveland St: https://ukathletics.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary

Audio Link vs Indiana: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/indiana/

Livestream Link @ Kentucky: https://www.espn.com/watch?id=dd9b9ab7-c43b-4454-aeb2-496df54ff049