FGCU Volleyball: Hurricane Invitational Day Two Recap

The FGCU volleyball team (6-0) wrapped up their portion of the Hurricane Invitational at the Knight Complex in Coral Gables, Florida as they shutout George Washington (2-3) 3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 25-16). With the win, the Eagles are now 2-0 against the Colonials.

Offensively, it was junior Snowy Burnam that led the Eagles. Burnam finished with 15 kills and two blocks. The 15 kills put her at 484 in her career as she passed Brittany Muse (480, 2009-12) for 17th all-time and 31 to become the 17th player to reach 500 career kills.

"Snowy was outstanding today in every facet of the game, and I loved how tuned in she was to what was happening out on the court," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "Her attacking on the backside started to open things up for everyone else and her passing was a big difference maker."

Classmate Cortney VanLiew would follow Burnam with a double-double of 13 kills and 10 digs and two blocks. VanLiew's 13 kills put her at 886 and is 14 away from being the sixth player to reach 900 career kills and 41 away from passing Kaitlin Holm (926, 2011-13) for fifth all-time. Redshirt senior Amanda Carroll would follow with seven kills and three aces while sophomore Chelsea Lockey followed with 34 assists and eight digs. With her seven kills, Carroll now has 1,408 in her career while her three aces put her at 107 and is 33 shy of passing Ana Kokanovic (139, 2007-08) as the all-time leader.

Defensively, sophomore Dana Axner and the Block Party (VanLiew, Burnam, seniors Daniele Serrano and Giovanna Borgiotti and sophomore Tori Morris) took the reins. Axner had 11 digs and five assists while the Block Party had a combined 11 total blocks (four led by Morris) and 37 kills. With her 11 digs, Axner now has 733 in her career and is 33 shy of passing Chandra Lefever (765, 2006-07, 09) for 11th all-time.

Serrano had five kills and two block assists. With her five kills, Serrano has 658 in her career and is seven shy of passing Devon Watts (664, 2004-05) for 12th all-time and 42 shy of becoming the 10th player to reach 700 career kills. Borgiotti got one kill and one block. Her one kill put her at 518 and remains 56 shy of passing Leigh Pudwill (572, 2015-16) for 15th all-time.

As far as coaching goes, longtime assistant coach Daniel Mahy has reached the milestone of his own. Mahy earned his 272nd win as a coach for FGCU and 300th overall win in the NCAA.

Other Scores:
USF (2-3) fell to Auburn by a score of 3-2 (25-20, 26-28, 13-25, 25-21, 15-17) in the 11 am match and 3-0 (21-25, 26-28, 19-25) to host Miami (2-1) in the 5 pm match.

"I'm proud of the way our team fought this match," said USF head coach Courtney Draper on the loss to Auburn. "It was very evenly matched and could have gone either way, unfortunately we came up short today. We are still working to find the right line up and, as a team, we just need to perform more consistently. Our outsides did a great job both offensively and defensively."

"I think our team did a pretty good job today," said Miami redshirt junior Elizaveta Lukianova. "As we always think, every single game is the most important game of the year and we have to prepare for every single one of them in that way. Everybody has their own battles on the court, their own tasks, and I think we were able to combine those to make sure out team performed on a decent level. We definitely have a long way to go, but with every rep, we are getting closer and closer."

"Lindsey (Pliapol) and Jac St. Cin really had great offensive nights, but we need to be able to balance our attack better to be more successful," Draper said on the loss to Miami. "We need our middles and right sides to be more involved. Lauren did an excellent job serving, and now we need some others to step up their serving game as well. Miami was vulnerable in a few rotations in specific zones, but our girls struggled to hit the target too often. CC (Clausen) was very good defensively, but unfortunately we were just physically outmatched in this game."

Auburn would then face George Washington to close out the Hurricane Invitational in which they won by a score of 3-1  (21-25, 25-13, 25-22, 25-13).

"We feel really good about it," Auburn head coach Rick Nold said. "I thought we learned some things about ourselves. We played a lot cleaner volleyball both yesterday, and today. When we did that I thought we were really, really consistent. It was good for the team to see success when we were taking care of those things."

A-SUN Scores:
UNF (2-4) defeated former A-SUN Conference member Mercer University 3- on day two of the UNF Invitational. The Ospreys will travel to Tampa to face USF (9/10).

Lipscomb (1-4) will face former A-SUN Conference member Belmont University (9/10).

Kennesaw State (4-2) defeated Furman 3-2 on day two of the High Point Invitational. They will face host High Point on day three (9/8)

North Alabama (1-3) fell 3-1 to Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) and 3-0 to Jacksonville State on day two of the Samford Invitational. The Lions will travel to Chattanooga for the Chattanooga Classic where they will face Manhattan College, Tennessee Tech and host Chattanooga (9/13-14.

Jacksonville (1-5) split day two of the Troy Tournament defeating Chattanooga 3-1 before falling 3-0 to host Troy. They will be co-hosting the River City Rumble Tournament, welcoming Charleston Southern, FIU and Belmont.

Stetson (1-3) fell 3-2 to Hofstra on day two of the FIU Panther Fest. They will now travel to Jacksonville, Alabama for the Gamecock Classic where they will face Mississippi State, host Jacksonville State and Sam Houston State (9/13-14).

Liberty (2-2) opened the Liberty Invitational with a 3-0 win over Elon and a 3-1 over Virginia Tech. The Lady Flames will face Davidson on day two of the the invitational.

NJIT (1-6) split day two of the Fairleigh Dickinson Invitational falling 3-0 to Morgan State before defeating host FDU 3-2. The Highlanders will travel to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to face Lehigh University (9/10).

Up Next:
The Eagles will travel to neutral grounds yet again as they will head to Lexington, Kentucky for the two-day Bluegrass Battle where they will face Indiana (4-2), #12 Kentucky (4-2) and Cleveland State (2-4) on September 13-14.