"That was a really clean and balanced performance with contributions across the board," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "The offense had a nice flow and rhythm to it and defensively we were outstanding. We have been talking a lot about consistency and working to sustain a certain level of play, and tonight we did that very well."
"We definitely did not play our best volleyball tonight, but there were some positives to take out of the match," commented head coach Evan Muys. "We are thankful that we get the opportunity to get back on the court Sunday and continue to get better against another really good team."
It was once again junior Cortney VanLiew that led the Eagles offensively as she finished with 16 kills, eight digs, and two assists. Following VanLiew was classmate Snowy Burnam. Burnam finished with seven kills, 10 digs and a block. Senior Daniele Serrano followed VanLiew and Burnam with five kills, an assist and two blocks.
Sophomore Chelsea Lockey led the Eagles with 36 assists while adding four kills, two aces, two blocks and three digs.
Defensively, sophomore Dana Axner finished with 16 digs and two assists.
FGCU hit. 438 as a team, which is the sixth-best performance in the program's Division I era and the second-best percentage all-time against an A-SUN opponent, just behind a .451 finish against USC Upstate on Sept. 26, 2008.
Junior Madison Rayam led the Dolphins offensively with six kills, while freshman Lexi Wierzbicki followed with five kills of her own. Sophomore Natalie Martin and freshman Madison Dagenhart had 11 assists each.
Defensively, senior Natalie Wehner had 12 digs and two assists and became the ninth Dolphin to reach 1,000 career digs.
"Additionally, congrats to Nat, who earned her 1,000th dig this evening. She has embraced her role and is thriving in it. I'm incredibly proud of her and what she's overcome in her career, and I have an opportunity to coach such a great kid."
Notes:
VanLiew's 16 kills put her at 1,107 in her career while her eight digs put her at 690 and needs 10 to become the 13th Eagle to reach 700 digs.
Burnam's seven kills put her at 586 in her career and needs 14 to become the 15th Eagle to reach 600 career kills while needing 64 to surpass Jelena Simic (649, 2009, 2011) for 14th all-time. In digs, Burnam has 532 career digs and surpassed Ingrid Felicio (524, 2004-05) for 18th all-time. Burnam's next milestone is Jill Hopper (552, 2011-13) for 17th all-time.
Lockey's 36 assists put her at 1,273 career assists and needs 132 to surpass Roberta Santos (1,475, 2007-08) for fifth all-time.
Serrano's five kills put her at 764 in her career while her two blocks put her at 434. Serrano needs 36 more to become the eighth Eagle to reach 800 career kills while needing two blocks to surpass UNF's Morgan Van Alstine (435, 2013-16) for second all-time in A-SUN history.
Axner's 16 digs put her at 1,019 in her career and needs 66 to surpass Courtney Stephens (1,084, 2014-17) for sixth all-time.
Senior Giovanna Borgiotti finished with two kills, an assist and two blocks. Her two kills put her at 542 and needs 31 to surpass Leigh Pudwill (572, 2015-16) for 16th all-time.
Botsford earned his 135th career win with the Eagles (376th overall) while longtime assistant coach Daniel Mahy earned his 286th career win (313th overall) and second year assistant coach Stephanie Zelinski earned her 74th.
Botsford earned his 135th career win with the Eagles (376th overall) while longtime assistant coach Daniel Mahy earned his 286th career win (313th overall) and second year assistant coach Stephanie Zelinski earned her 74th.
The Eagles are now tied with Pittsburgh for the fourth-most wins in the nation at 20. Western Kentucky, Stephen F. Austin and Milwaukee are all tied for the most with 21 apiece. At .870, FGCU's winning percentage is also 13th-best in the nation.
A-SUN Scores:
NJIT (1-24, 0-9 A-SUN) played Wednesday night losing 3-0 to Manhattan College before being shutout 3-0 to Liberty (13-8, 6-3 A-SUN). Stetson (7-11, 5-4 A-SUN) defeated UNF (10-14, 3-6 A-SUN) 3-2 in a nail biter. Kennesaw State (15-6, 8-1 A-SUN) shutout North Alabama (3-20, 1-9 A-SUN) 3-0 in Florence.
The Lady Flames will return to action Sunday afternoon, October 27 at 1 pm as they travel to Jacksonville to take on JU, the Highlanders will be action Tuesday morning, October 29 at 11 am as they travel to Kennesaw State and the Hatters will travel to Nashville to take on Lipscomb (11-9, 7-2 A-SUN) Sunday afternoon, October 27 at 2 pm
Up Next:
The Eagles will be back in action on the road Sunday at North Alabama at 2 p.m. ET.
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