The FGCU volleyball team (17-3, 6-1 A-SUN) took a good breather in Miami as they shutout Florida International (9-8, 2-3 C-USA) 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-21) at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center. With the win, the Eagles are now 10-5 against the Panthers. FGCU has now won seven straight matches overall while dropping just two sets.
"I was really impressed with FIU's defense and serving, which made for some tough sideout scenarios throughout the match," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "Although we didn't get off to the start we would have liked, I loved the response the rest of the way. Our middles were very effective, we served extremely well and the floor defense on our end was consistent."
Offensively, it was freshman Erin Shoemaker that led the Eagles as she finished with 14 kills, a block and three digs. Junior Cortney VanLiew followed Shoemaker with 10 kills of her own along with a block and five digs. VanLiew's 10 kills put her at 1,081 in her career, while her five digs put her at 676 and needs six to surpass Vanessa Benke (681, 2013-15) for 13th all-time.
Senior Daniele Serrano had nine kills, two blocks and two digs. With her nine kills, Serrano now has 750 in her career and needs 50 to become the eighth Eagle to reach 800 career kills. Meanwhile her two blocks put her at 427 and needs nine to surpass UNF's Morgan Van Alstine (435, 2013-16) for second all-time.
Sophomore Chelsea Lockey led with 34 assists to go with her one block and four digs. Lockey's 34 assists put her at 1,234 in her career and needs 231 to surpass Roberta Santos (1,475, 2007-08) for fifth all-time.
Sophomore Dana Axner finished with 18 digs to go with her one assist and one ace. Axner's 18 digs put her at 973 and need 27 to become the seventh Eagle to reach 1,000 career digs and 112 to surpass Courtney Stephens (1,084, 2014-17) for sixth all-time.
Junior Snowy Burnam and sophomore Tori Morris finished with four kills each. Burnam added two assist, a block and nine digs while Morris added a block. With her four kills, Burnam now has 569 career kills and needs four to surpass Leigh Pudwill (572, 2015-16) for 15th all-time. In addition, Burnam's nine digs put her at 513 and needs 12 to surpass Ingrid Felicio (524, 2004-05) for 18th all-time.
Florida International scored the first four and six of seven points to open the match as the Eagles were hitting -.286 prior to the first timeout. From there, though, Shomaker had six kills as FGCU hit .310 the rest of the set.
After a somewhat sluggish start, once again, to the second set, the Green and Blue found control of the second set behind the serving of junior Alayna Ryan, who spurred an 8-0 run that gave FGCU a 17-7 lead. Later, the Eagles scored four of the final six points, including back-to-back kills from VanLiew and Serrano to close the set.
"Erin had a nice match on the offensive end and kept up her efficiency as the volume increased," Botsford said. "Alayna was a bit key at opening up some leads for us, as well, with some solid play behind the service line."
The final set was slowed down by various stoppages in play, but FGCU scored six of the first eight points and led 18-11 following back-to-back kills from VanLiew. Florida International rallied to pull within two, but the Eagles scored three of the match's final four points and claimed the match-winner on a double block from Morris and Burnam.
As a team, FGCU also held Florida International to a .108 hitting percentage. The Eagles have allowed opponents to hit over .200 just four times this year. Furthermore, the Green and Blue are now 44-10 over their past 54 matches.
Extra Notes:
Redshirt senior Amanda Carroll contributed with nine digs and a match-high three aces. Carroll's three aces put her at 122 and needs 18 to surpass Ana Kokanovic (139, 2007-08) as the all-time leader.
Botsford earned his 133rd career win with the Eagles (374th overall), while longtime assistant coach Daniel Mahy earned his 284th win with the Eagles (311th overall) and second year assistant coach Stephanie Zelinski earned her 72nd.
A-SUN Scores:
UNF (9-12, 2-4 A-SUN) played Tuesday night at home and defeated Florida A&M (FAMU) (6-14, 4-2 MEAC) 3-2. They will welcome North Alabama (3-16, 1-5 A-SUN) Friday night, October 18 at 7 pm
Up Next:
The Eagles return home as they welcome NJIT (1-20, 0-6 A-SUN) to the Alico Arena Saturday night, October 19 at 6 pm.
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