FGCU VB @ JU; North Alabama Preview

The FGCU volleyball team (19-3, 7-1 A-SUN) will resume A-SUN Conference on the road as they travel to Jacksonville to take on Jacksonville (7-15, 3-5 A-SUN) at the Historic Swisher Gymnasium Friday night, October 25 at 7 pm before traveling to Florence, Alabama to take on North Alabama (3-19, 1-8 A-SUN) at Flowers Hall Sunday afternoon, October 27 at 2pm EST/1 pm CST.

Last Time Out:
The Eagles are coming off of another 3-0 shutout win over Bethune-Cookman at home in their final non-conference game of the season and remain in first place in the A-SUN.

What it Do VanLiew:
The Eagles are led offensively by junior Cortney VanLiew. VanLiew. VanLiew has 301 kills along with 143 digs, 19 aces and 34 blocks (seven solo). Against Bethune-Cookman, VanLiew was held to five kills while adding five digs, but it added her career kill total to 1,091 (fourth all-time) and remains 42 shy of surpassing Olivia Mesner (1,132, 2011-14) for third all-time. In digs, VanLiew has 682 career digs in which she surpassed Vanessa Benke (681, 2013-15) for 13th all-time in the match against Bethune. Her next milestone will be Chandra Lefever (765, 2006-07, 09) for 12th all-time. Meanwhile, blocking-wise, VanLiew has 22 career solo blocks (11th all-time) and needs two to surpass Jacqueline Cowden (23, 2009-10) and Melissa Duffield (23, 2005) for 10th all-time.

Nike or Adidas:
Freshman Erin Shoemaker follows VanLiew with 169 kills to go along with 29 blocks (seven solo). Against Bethune-Cookman, Shoemaker had five kills and four digs.

Lockdown:
Since taking over for Maggie Rick, sophomore Chelsea Lockey has taken a big grasp as starting setter. Lockey leads the team with 829 assists in her name while adding 19 aces, 161 digs and 38 blocks (four solo). Lockey had 35 assists against Bethune-Cookman while adding five kills and a team-leading three blocks (one solo).

In her career, Lockey has 1,237 career assists and needs 168 to surpass Roberta Santos (1,475, 2007-08) for fifth all-time.

Hot and Spicy Burns:
Senior Daniele Serrano played only one set against Bethune-Cookman with two kills and a block before being shutdown to rest until the weekend. Serrano currently has 144 kills and 68 blocks (nine solo) in her name. Serrano's two kills put her at 759 in her career and needs 41 to become the eighth Eagle to reach 800 career kills. Her next milestone in career kills is Ericka Fonseca (837, 2005-06) for seventh all-time Her two blocks put her at 432 in her career and needs four more to surpass UNF's Morgan Van Alstine (435, 2013-16) for second all-time in A-SUN history.

500 Blizzards and Mojos:
Junior Snowy Burnam and senior Giovanna Borgiotti have over 500 kills in their careers and were once in a neck-and-neck battle.

Burnam currently has 134 kills in her name while adding 21 aces, 151 digs and 47 blocks (two solo) while Borgiotti has 45 kills and 11 blocks (one solo) in her name.

Against Bethune-Cookman, Burnam had five kills and four digs while Borgiotti had three kills, an ace, a block and a dig.

Burnam has 579 career kills and recently surpassed Leigh Pudwill (572, 2015-16) for 15th all-time and needs 21 to become the 15th Eagle to reach 600 career kills while needing 71 to surpass Jelena Simic (649, 2009, 2011) for 14th all-time. In digs, Burnam has  522 career digs and needs three to surpass Ingrid Felicio (524, 2004-05) for 18th all-time. Borgiotti has 540 career kills and need 33 to surpass Pudwill for 16th all-time.

Apprentice 1,000:
Sophomore Dana Axner made history against Bethune-Cookmanas she finished with 20 digs, three assists and an ace, and currently has 379 digs in her name along with 20 aces. Her 20 digs  made her the seventh player in the program's history to reach 1,000 digs and now has 1,003 in her career. In addition, Axner became the youngest player in program history, the first to achieve the milestone as a sophomore in the Division I era and the second to do it in her first two seasons since Whitney Hendry (1,965, 2004-07). Axner's next milestone is Courtney Stephens (1,084, 2014-17) for sixth all-time.

Mrs. Aces:
Redshirt senior Amanda Carroll had one of best games against Bethune-Cookman as she finished with a double-double of 10 kills and 14 digs while adding three aces. Currently, Carroll has 52 kills, 166 digs and 25 aces in her name. Carroll has the all-time career kills record with 1,447 and needs 53 to reach 1,500. As far as her other milestones, Carroll has 1,168 career digs and 126 aces and needs 14 aces to surpass Ana Kokanovic (139, 2007-08) as the all-time leader.

VanLiew, Serrano, Burnam, Borgiotti and Carroll are the five remaining members to have at least 500 career kills

Coach Wins:
Head coach Matt Botsford earned his 134th career win with the Eagles (375th overall) against Bethune-Cookman, while longtime assistant coach Daniel Mahy earned his 286th career win (313th overall) and second year assistant coach Stephanie Zelinski earned her 74th.

Scouting Jacksonville:
The Dolphins are coming off of being shutout by Kennesaw State 3-0 on the road and are sitting in seventh in the A-SUN. Chances are the Dolphins will try to battle for the #6 seed in the conference tournament.

Senior Mallory Mattingly leads the Dolphins offensively with 293 kills and 31 aces.

Freshman Lexi Wierzbicki follows Mattingly with 227 kills, while sophomore Natalie Martin has 785 assists.

Defensively, junior Bailey Fox has 65 blocks in her name (eight solo) with 125 kills while senior Natalie Wehner has 386 digs.

Scouting North Alabama:
The Lions will face Kennesaw State on Friday night, October 25 prior to facing FGCU.

The Lions are coming off of a 3-0 shutout loss to Lipscomb and are in eighth place in the A-SUN.

Offensively, Alyssa Dutton and Annakatherine Griggs lead the Lions with 119 kills each while Morgan Madasz follows with 95 kills.

Breylee Linder has 339 assists overall (4.64 per set) while Mackenzie Sullivan has a team-high 268 digs (4.32 per set). The trio of Griggs (65), Sullivan (46), and Nura Abakar (38) lead the way in blocks.

Series History:
The Eagles hold a 19-11 overall record over the Dolphins which includes a 3-0 shutout win earlier this season at the Alico Arena (10/11).

This will be the fourth time FGCU plays North Alabama as they are 3-0 which includes the 3-0 shutout earlier this season (9/28).

Livestats will be provided for both matches and will air livestream on ESPN+.

ESPN+:

The A-SUN will air on the new, subscription-based digital platform ESPN+, which will be the new home for select FGCU and A-SUN 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 per-year fee based on the viewers subscription choice.

A-SUN Standings:

1. FGCU (19-3, 7-1 A-SUN)

1. Kennesaw State (14-6, 7-1 A-SUN)

3. Lipscomb (11-9, 7-2 A-SUN)

4. Liberty  (12-8, 5-3 A-SUN)

5. Stetson (7-11, 4-4 A-SUN)

6. North Florida (10-13, 3-5 A-SUN)

7. Jacksonville (7-15, 3-5 A-SUN)

8. North Alabama (3-19, 1-8 A-SUN

9. NJIT (1-22, 0-8 A-SUN)

Livestats Links:
@ JU: https://judolphins.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary

@UNA: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=267036&vislive=fguu

Livestream Links:
@ JU: https://www.espn.com/watch?id=f5e2acaa-8864-46b8-88a6-52cd817ba7e9

@ UNA: https://www.espn.com/watch?id=3433713d-e198-4d2b-b2e0-bff8a10c06c3