"I'm really pleased with the girls the way they were executing, especially on the defensive end," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "I thought that was a major factor, our ability to control a really good offense in Kennesaw State, both with the blocking and the floor defense. It was outstanding. That made the game a little bit easier, being less reliant on offense alone."
Offensively, it was junior Cortney VanLiew that led the Eagles offensively as she finished with a double-double of 11 kills and 10 digs while adding three blocks (one solo) and two assists. With her 11 kills, VanLiew now has 1,071 in her career while her 10 digs put her at 670, 12 shy of passing Vanessa Benke (681, 2013-15) for 13th all-time. VanLiew's one solo block put her at 22, which passed Cara Ziegler (21, 2006-07), Karina Mambuca (21, 2012-13) and Roberta Santos (21, 2007-08) for 12th all-time and is two shy of passing Melissa Duffield (23, 2005) for 11th all-time.
Following VanLiew offensively was senior Daniele Serrano and junior Snowy Burnam as they finished with seven kills each. Serrano added five blocks, while added an assist, two aces, three blocks and 12 digs.
With her seven kills, Serrano now has 741 in her career and remains 97 shy of passing Ericka Fonseca (837, 2005-06) for seventh all-time while her five block assists put her at 362 and increased her total blocks to 425 as she passed Campbell's Rachel Templin (422, 2003-06) for third most in A-SUN history. Serrano's next milestone in the A-SUN record books is UNF's Morgan Van Alstine (435, 2013-16) for second all-time.
Burnam's seven kills put her at 565 in her career, remaining eight shy of surpassing Leigh Pudwill (572, 2015-16) for 15th all-time, while her 12 digs put her at 504 in her career, thus becoming the 19th Eagle to reach 500 digs. Burnam is 21 shy of surpassing Ingrid Felicio (524, 2004-05) for 18th all-time.
Sophomore Chelsea Lockey finished her portion of the match with 35 assists, while adding five kills, three blocks (one solo) and nine digs. Lockey's 35 assists put her at 1,210 in her career and needs 266 to surpass Santos (1,475, 2007-08) for fifth all-time.
"I thought today was a really good all-around effort from each and every player," Lockey said. "I thought we all carried our own weight, and I think that really showed on the court to what we could do when we play our games."
Defensively, sophomore Dana Axner added 15 digs to go with her one assist. Axner's 15 digs surpassed Gigi Meyer (947, 2011-14) for seventh all-time and now has 955 career digs. The next milestone for the native of Dublin, Ohio is Courtney Stephens (1,084, 2014-17) for sixth all-time and needs 130 to reach the milestone.
Early on, the Eagles used a pair of big runs to secure the first two sets. FGCU opened up a 13-4 lead to begin the match behind 10 block assists in the set's first 17 points, including four from Serrano and three from Burnam. Lockey added one of her own while tallying five assists during the run.
Kennesaw State responded by chipping into the deficit, eventually pulling within 22-19. Lockey and classmate Tori Morris, however, teamed up for a block, and Lockey followed with a kill to stretch the lead to five. Three points later, freshman Erin Shomaker smacked home a successful attack for a one-set lead.
The late momentum carried over as FGCU scored nine of the first 10 in the second frame and eventually took a 2-0 lead following three straight kills from Serrano, VanLiew and Lockey.
Kennesaw State then used a 9-1 run to seize control of the third set. FGCU was able to cut the deficit down to 16-14, but the Owls scored three straight, eventually led 23-18 and extended the match following a kill from junior Quin Sutphin.
"It's interesting," Botsford said. "You're happy to get leads like that and finish sets, but I do think it can lull you into a false sense of comfort and we know that Kennesaw is really talented, and we know enough about them as a competitive group that it was unlikely that we were going to see that again. Then, of course, they came out in the third set and elevated their game and we couldn't match it."
In the final set, though, FGCU used a 19-4 run to close the match and got another set-winning kill from Shomaker.
Redshirt Amanda Carroll tallied nine digs while adding two kills and an assist. Morris finished with four kills and four blocks.
Junior Lauren Chastang led the Owls with a double-double of 18 kills and 12 digs while Sutphin followed with 12 kills and sophomore Dani Ballou had 10 kills.
Senior and defending A-SUN Setter of the Year Lexi Broadwater finished with 42 assists.
Defensively, junior Karlee Groover led with 16 digs.
Other A-SUN Scores:
UNF (8-12, 2-4 A-SUN) defeated their crosstown rival Jacksonville (7-13, 3-3 A-SUN) 3-2. The Ospreys will go to non-conference play as they will face Florida A&M (FAMU) at home.
The Dolphins will return to action Friday night, October 18 at Lipscomb (8-9, 4-2 A-SUN) at 7:30 pm.
Stetson (5-11, 2-4 A-SUN) defeated Liberty (12-7, 5-2 A-SUN) 3-2 at Liberty. The Hatters will return to action Friday night, October 18 as they welcome NJIT (1-20, 0-6 A-SUN) to Deland at 6 pm. The Highlanders fell 3-0 to the Lady Bison.
The Lady Flames will travel to Kennesaw State Friday night, October 18 at 7 pm.
North Alabama (3-16, 1-5 A-SUN) will return to action Friday night, October 18 as they travel to Jacksonville to face UNF.
Notes:
Lockey surpassed Camil Dominguez (450, 2010-11) for the program's fifth-most career assists in A-SUN regular season play on Sunday, while Carroll sits eight digs shy of becoming only the fifth player in program history with 500 against conference teams in her career.
Botsford earned his 132nd career win with the Eagles as head coach and his 373rd in his coaching career, while longtime assistant coach Daniel Mahy earned his 310th career win as a coach and 283rd as a coach for the Eagles and second year assistant coach Stephanie Zelinski earned her 71st.
FGCU's win, coupled with Liberty's loss to Stetson, gave the Green and Blue a half-game lead in the conference standings.
Up Next:
The Eagles return on the road for one of their two final non-conference matches as they travel to Miami to take on Florida International (9-7, 2-3 C-USA) Wednesday night, October 16 at 6 pm.
Below is a photo of me with the defending A-SUN Defensive Player of the Year Dana Axner.
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