The top-ranked FGCU volleyball team (18-3, 7-1 A-SUN) produced 11 aces as a team to help produce a 25-7, 25-11, 25-15 win over NJIT (1-22, 0-8 A-SUN) in Alico Arena on Saturday night.
With the victory, the Eagles have now won eight straight overall and sit tied with Kennesaw State (14-6, 7-1) atop the conference standings. They're also 8-0 inside Alico Arena this year and have won 12 consecutive A-SUN home matches.
"I thought we served extremely well, and that's something we've done consistently throughout the season, and it's played a big part in our success," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "I thought our floor defense was great. Offensively, the numbers look really, really good. I still don't think the offense was clicking in terms of the rhythm the way we would have liked, but the players were getting the ball down."
As a team, FGCU hit .400 as sophomore Chelsey Lockey orchestrated the offense with 28 assists, while also finishing with six digs, two aces and two kills. Lockey's 28 assists put her at 1,262 and needs 203 to surpass Roberta Santos (1,475, 2007-08) for fifth all-time.
Classmate Tori Morris had seven kills in seven attempts, while senior Daniele Serrano tied her in kills and hit. 583. Overall, the Eagles had 35 kills, including five apiece from juniors Cortney VanLiew and Snowy Burnam. VanLiew added two aces, a block and a dig, while Burnam added an ace, an assist, three blocks and five digs.
VanLiew's five kills put her at 1,086 in her career while her one dig put her at 677 in her career and remains five shy of passing Vanessa Benke (681, 2013-15) for 13th all-time.
Burnam's five kills pushed her at 574 in her career, surpassing Leigh Pudwill (572, 2015-16) for 15th all-time. Burnam needs 26 more kills to become the 15th Eagle to reach 600 career kills. In addition, Burnam's five digs put her at 518 in her career and needs seven to surpass Ingrid Felicio (524, 2004-05) for 18th all-time.
FGCU's .400 hitting percentage is the highest they've ever hit in a match against NJIT, topping its .398 on Oct. 7, 2017. Their 11 aces is also a new high against the Highlanders, and the tally fell just two shy of matching the program's high in a Division I era match overall.
Defensively, sophomore Dana Axner led all players with 10 digs. Redshirt senior Amanda Carroll added five digs and three aces to go with her four kills. Carroll's five digs put her at 1,154 while her four kills put her at 1,437 and her three aces put her at 125. Carroll needs 15 to surpass Ana Kokanovic (139, 2007-08) as the all-time leader.
Axner increased her career dig total to 983, which puts her just 17 shy of becoming only the seventh player in the program's history to reach 1,000. And she'd be the first to achieve the milestone as a sophomore in the Division I era. The only other player to do it in her first two seasons was Whitney Hendry, who had 1,108 at the end of her sophomore campaign - although her first three seasons came when the Eagles competed at the Division II level.
At the net, aside from Burnam, Serrano and Morris had three block assists apiece. With her output, Serrano increased her career block total to 430, which is six shy of moving her past Morgan Van Alstine (North Florida, 2013-16, 435.0) for second place in A-SUN history. In addition, Serrano's seven kills put her at 757 in her career and need 43 to become the eighth Eagle to reach 800 career kills.
Other Notes:
Botsford earned his 134th career win with the Eagles (375th overall) while longtime assistant coach Daniel Mahy earned his 285th career win (312th overall) and second year assistant coach Stephanie Zelinski earned her 73rd.
Senior Giovanna Borgiotti added one kill, a block and a dig. Borgiotti's one kill put her at 537 career kills (17th all-time) and needs 36 to surpass Leigh Pudwill (572, 2015-16) for 16th all-time.
A-SUN Scores:
NJIT played Stetson prior to FGCU as they fell 3-0 Friday night. The Highlanders will travel to Riverdale, New York as they face Manhattan College (5-16, 3-6 MAAC) Wednesday night, October 23 at 7 pm.
Stetson (7-11, 3-4 A-SUN) shutout North Alabama (3-17, 1-6 A-SUN) 3-0. The Hatters will travel to Jacksonville to take on UNF. The Lions will travel to Nashville to take on Lipscomb Sunday afternoon, October 20 at 3 pm.
Lipscomb (9-9, 5-2 A-SUN) shutout Jacksonville 3-0 at home Friday night and will host North Alabama Tuesday night, October 22 at 7 pm.
UNF (10-12, 3-4 A-SUN) defeated North Alabama 3-1 and will travel to Nashville to face Lipscomb.
Kennesaw State (14-6, 7-1 A-SUN) defeated Liberty (12-8, 5-3 A-SUN) 3-1 Friday night before shutting out Jacksonville (7-14, 3-4 A-SUN) 3-0 Saturday night. The Owls will face North Alabama Friday night, October 25 at 8 pm. The Lady Flames will travel to Newark to face NJIT Friday afternoon at 3 pm. The Dolphins will host FGCU Friday night, October 25 at 7 pm.
A-SUN Standings:
1. FGCU (18-3, 7-1 A-SUN)
1. Kennesaw State (14-6, 7-1 A-SUN)
3. Lipscomb (9-9, 5-2 A-SUN)
4. Liberty (12-8, 5-3 A-SUN)
5. Stetson (7-11, 3-4 A-SUN)
6. North Florida (10-12, 3-4 A-SUN)
7. Jacksonville (7-14, 3-4 A-SUN)
8. North Alabama (3-17, 1-6 A-SUN
9. NJIT (1-22, 0-8 A-SUN)
Up Next:
The Eagles remain at home at the Alico Arena as they welcome Bethune-Cookman (6-15, 3-3 MEAC) Tuesday night, October 22 at 6 pm.
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