FGCU VB @ Kennesaw; Lipscomb Preview

The FGCU volleyball team (24-3, 12-1 A-SUN) will head on the road for two of their final three road matches for the weekend as they travel to Kennesaw, Georgia to take on Kennesaw State (16-8, 9-3 A-SUN) Friday night, November 8 at 7 pm at the KSU Convocation Center before heading to Nashville to take on Lipscomb (12-11, 8-4 A-SUN) at Allen Arena Sunday afternoon, November 10 at 1 pm.

Last Time Out:
The Eagles wrapped up their final match homestead this past weekend as they shutout Stetson on Friday for their senior night before shutting out UNF on Sunday for their final home match. Currently, the Eagles remain in first place in the A-SUN.

What's at Stake:
With a win over the Owls on Friday, the Eagles would clinch the program's second straight outright A-SUN regular season championship, along with the No. 1 seed and quarterfinal round bye in the A-SUN tournament that accompanies it. Lose and FGCU would have to defeat both Lipscomb on Sunday and NJIT on Nov. 15 to win the title outright.

Do the Do VanLiew:
For junior Cortney VanLiew, she still continues to lead the offense for the Eagles as well as contributing defensively. VanLiew currently has 355 kills and 20 aces, while defensively she has 183 digs and 43 blocks (nine solo). VanLiew had 22 kills, two aces, 10 digs and seven blocks (two solo). In her name, VanLiew has 1,145 kills, 718 digs and 24 solo blocks.

VanLiew's 1,145 career kills are third all-time and she needs 29 to surpass Brooke Youngquist-Sweat (1,173, 2004-07) for second all-time, while in digs she has 718 in her career and is 48 shy of passing Chandra Lefever (765, 2006-07, 09) for 12th all-time. VanLiew's 24th solo block surpassed Jacqueline Cowden (23, 2009-10) and Melissa Duffield (23, 2005) for 10th all-time and is tied with Sharonda Pickering (24, 2017-18) for ninth all-time. She needs one to surpass Pickering for ninth all-time.

Hotter than Jalapenos:
Senior Daniele Serrano continues to do her role strongly both offensively and defensively. Serrano currently has 182 kills and 92 blocks (13 solo) in her name. This past weekend, Serrano had 22 kills and 12 blocks (three solo) against Stetson and UNF. During the weekend, Serrano was named A-SUN Player of the Week for her performance.

"As a senior, you expect to see Dani elevate her game as we get down the stretch and that is exactly what is happening," head coach Matt Botsford said. "Her impact on both sides of the ball is so important to our success, and she is in a great rhythm right now."

In her career, Serrano has 796 career kills and needs four to become the eighth Eagle to reach 800 career kills. She is also 42 kills shy of surpassing Ericka Fonseca (837, 2005-06) for seventh all-time. Meanwhile Serrano has 455 career blocks and needs 20 to surpass ETSU's Meredith Hardy (474, 2010-13) as the all-time leader in total blocks in the A-SUN.

Ice Ice Baby:
Like Serrano, junior Snowy Burnam has also cemented herself both offensively and defensively. Currently, Burnam has 174 kills and 23 aces offensively while defensively she has 190 digs and 57 blocks (two solo). For the weekend vs Stetson and UNF, Burnam had a combined 22 kills (11 in both matches), one ace, 17 digs and three blocks.

In her career, Burnam has 619 kills, 561 digs and 170 blocks (159 block assists). Burnam surpassed Lauren Tutwiler (170, 2014-15) for 11th all-time in total blocks. She needs 31 kills to surpass Jelena Simic (649, 2009, 2011) for 14th all-time, 43 digs to become the 17th Eagle to reach 600 digs and  surpass Christine Pinder (603, 2012-13) for 16th all-time, nine block assists to surpass Kaitlin Holm (167, 2011-13) and seven total blocks to surpass Sharonda Pickering (176, 2017-18) for 10th all-time.

Take the Key:
Sophomore Chelsea Lockey reached 1,000 assists in a single season while adding 24 aces, 195 digs and 46 (five solo). Lockey had 77 assists, an ace, 20 digs and three blocks on the weekend vs Stetson and UNF.

Lockey has 1,476 career assists in her name and surpassed Roberta Santos (1,475, 2007-08) for fifth all-time in the match vs UNF. Lockey's next milestone is Laura Manovill (1,809, 2004-05) for fourth all-time.

On the World Tor:
Sophomore Tori Morris has 109 kills and 79 blocks (10 solo) in her name. On the weekend, Morris had eight kills and five blocks (two solo). In career blocks assists, Morris has 132 in her career as she surpassed Kaitlan Krivdo (129, 2015-18) for 15th all-time during the match vs and tied with Santos (132, 2007-08) for 14th all-time. Her one solo block put her at 19 as she surpassed Jill Hopper (18, 2011-13) for 17th all-time. In total blocks, Morris has 151 in her career.

Timber!!!
Sophomore Dana Axner still continues her strong role defensively as she leads the team with 456 digs while adding 22 aces. On the weekend, Axner had 45 combined digs and two aces. As a result of the weekend, Axner was named A-SUN Defensive Player of the Week for the fourth time this season and the fifth time overall.

"Dana continues to assert herself within each match and has spearheaded our great team defense," Botsford said. "The way she is reading the court right now and expanding her defensive range shows the growth of her game."

In her career, Axner has 1,080 digs and needs five to surpass Courtney Stephens (1,084, 2014-17) for sixth all-time.

Mrs. Aces:
Redshirt senior Amanda Carroll continues to lead the team with 34 aces, while adding 57 kills and 191 digs. Carroll finished with two kills, two aces and nine digs on the weekend.

In career kills, Carroll has 1,452, while in aces she has 135 and 1,193 digs. Carroll needs five aces to surpass Ana Kokanovic (139, 2007-08) as the all-time leader.

Coach Milestones:
Speaking of coaches and milestones, Botsford has been on path in his coaching career as a whole. On the weekend, Botsford earned his 138th and 139th career wins with the Eagles (379th and 380th overall).

Meanwhile, longtime assistant coach Daniel Mahy earned his 289th and 290th career win (316th and 317th overall), while second-year assistant coach Stephanie Zelinski earned her 77th and 78th.

Scouting Kennesaw:
The Owls are coming off of two home matches shutting out NJIT 3-0 Tuesday morning before falling 3-0 on their senior night to Lipscomb. Currently, the Owls remain in second place in the A-SUN.

Offensively, junior Lauren Chastang leads the Owls with 343 kills and 52 aces while classmate Quin Sutphin follows with 248 kills of her own.

Senior and defending A-SUN Setter of the Year Lexi Broadwater leads away with 1,051 assists.

Defensively, Sutphin (69 blocks) and sophomore Jasmine Brown (67 blocks) lead the way for the Owls in blocking while junior Karlee Groover has 413 digs.

Scouting Lipscomb:
The Lady Bison are coming off of shutting out Kennesaw 3-0 on the road and will face NJIT at home Friday night for their senior night game.

Sophomore Garrett Joiner and senior Maddie Phillips lead the team offensively with Joiner leading the way with 205 kills and adding 22 blocks, while Phillips has 203 kills and 13 aces. Senior Morgan Elmore has 879 assists and 41 blocks.

Defensively, Phillips also has 67 blocks while junior Alyssa Zwolensky has 364 digs.

Series History:
The Eagles have played both teams earlier in conference play with both results ending in FGCU's favor. The Eagles are 16-10 all-time against Kennesaw State, while going 10-16 against Lipscomb with Lipscomb losing five straight matches on the year.

How to Keep Up:
Livestats will be provided for both matches and will also air on ESPN+.

Livestats Link:
@ Kennesaw State: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=265494&vislive=fguu

@ Lipscomb: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=266175&vislive=fguu

ESPN+ Link:
@ Kennesaw State: https://www.espn.com/watch?id=3c965388-e58f-4da7-8a4d-4863cb79a288

@Lipscomb: https://www.espn.com/watch?id=0871baa3-3559-4df2-9bdb-e463da2e51b6

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