The #1 seed FGCU volleyball team (27-4) advanced to the championship match in A-SUN Conference Tournament for the fourth straight season as they beat #4 seed Lipscomb (16-12) 3-1 (25-23, 25-21, 21-25, 25-23). With the win, the Eagles are now 12-16 against the Lady Bison and will face #2 seed Kennesaw State (21-8), who defeated Liberty (19-11) 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-20) in the second semifinals match.
"In that fourth set, there was a few moments where I was wondering where that competitive spirit was," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "We got down four or five points and all it takes is one play. I think it was Tori that got a big block, and we felt the energy start to shift. More than that, the execution level improved. Our first contact was much better towards the second half of that final set, and it allowed us to do some things offensively. At that point, Lipscomb was really making it difficult for our hitters, so it was nice that we were able to get that."
"First off, congrats to Florida Gulf Coast," head coach Brandon Rosenthal said. "That was a very high-level match and its tough to be on the bad side of it, but in the end, I asked our players to give it everything they had and they did. I couldn't be more proud of this group and everything they represented. They truly embody what we want this program to be all about and tonight's performance was awesome. Awesome to watch, awesome to be apart of and awesome to lead."
A-SUN Quarterfinals:
Prior to the semifinals, Lipscomb defeated #5 Stetson (12-15) 3-1 (18-25, 25-19, 30-28, 25-20) while #3 seed Liberty defeated #6 seed UNF (15-18) 3-1 (22-25, 25-23, 25-17, 25-17).
Lipscomb: “First off, this was a gritty performance by our girls,” Rosenthal said in the quarterfinals. “Stetson is a tough team to play against and they caused us problems in each of the matches we’ve played them this year with their defensive pressure. I am really, really proud of the girls for battling through more mentally than anything. When you have that back up against the wall mentality it wears on you, but I am proud of them and the way they played tonight.”
Stetson: "Overall, it was a good season," Stetson head coach Yang Deng said. "There are moments we have to learn that being consistently good is how the results come. When you get to a certain level, the margin for error gets smaller and smaller. That means you have to be even more consistent. You have to earn your points and play your own game at the highest level."
Liberty: "All glory to God, what a great team win tonight," said head coach Trevor Johnson. "I'm so proud of everyone stepping up and doing their jobs! I thought we did a great job of dealing with the adversity of losing the first set and responded to the challenge. We showed a lot of heart tonight! I loved the energy from our bench as well!"
UNF: "The girls showed up in the first set and they were ready to play," head coach Kristen Wright said. "We really had a great game plan and it threw them off their heels. Even in the second set we outscored them, although unforced errors, matchups and their two big players put balls away [Amelia Johnson and Casey Goodwin]. The thing I leave with this is that it was a tight match and we had four or five underclassmen on the court and it's exciting that we are returning 15 players. We have a lot of work to do but we are bringing in some nice pieces."
Going to the semifinals, it was the duo of junior A-SUN Player of the Year and A-SUN All-Conference First Team and All-Academic Team member Cortney VanLiew and A-SUN Freshman of the Year Erin Shoemaker that took over the majority of the Eagles defense as they finished with 16 kills each. VanLiew was two digs shy of a double-double as she added eight digs, a block and an assist, while Shoemaker added four blocks and three digs.
Sophomore Tori Morris was two blocks shy of a double-double as she rounded out the Eagles in double-digit kills as she finished with 10 kills and eight blocks.
Sophomore All-Conference Second Team member Chelsea Lockey finished two digs shy of a double-double as she finished with 52 assists, eight digs, an ace and two blocks.
Junior All-Conference Second Team member Snowy Burnam finished with seven kills, eight digs and five blocks, while redshirt senior Amanda Carroll added one kill, one ace and eight digs and freshman Shelby Beisner added one ace and two digs.
Senior All-Conference Second Team member Daniele Serrano made A-SUN history as she surpassed ETSU's Meredith Hardy (474, 2010-13) as the all-time leader in total blocks in the A-SUN finishing with 475. In the match, Serrano had five kills, four blocks (one solo) and a dig. With her five kills, Serrano now has 817 career kills (eighth all-time) and is 21 shy of surpassing Ericka Fonseca (837, 2005-06) for seventh all-time.
"It means a lot to me," Serrano said. "Before college, I wasn't much of a stats person. I never looked at the numbers. It wasn't a big deal. Once I got here, into my sophomore year, Matt (Botsford) made it kind of based around stats. If our numbers are good, we're doing good and we strive for certain numbers. So, to earn this title feels amazing. I take pride that I'm literally protecting my team when I'm blocking. It means a lot more than you would know. I honestly didn't know if I got it because I wasn't blocking great tonight, but I'm glad that I did."
Sophomore A-SUN Defensive Player of the Year and A-SUN All-Conference First Team member Dana Axner finished with 33 digs.
Senior Megan Kuper led the Lady Bison with a double-double of 15 kills and 15 digs to go along with an ace, three assists and three blocks. Classmate Morgan Elmore also had a double-double of 55 assists and 11 digs while adding four kills and two blocks.
Junior Samantha Rubal also had 15 kills and added nine blocks (two solo) while defensively, classmate Alyssa Zwolensky added 26 digs.
"I think when you think about this team you think about the three seniors: Morgan Elmore, Megan Sullivan and Maddie Phillips," Rosenthal said. "These three individuals gave everything they've ever had to this program. They've laid it all on the line and have done so since day one, so it's not often we can look to a group who completely left it all out there and they have nothing to hang their heads about by any means."
Lipscomb fought off three straight set points in the first frame only to see the Eagles claim the early lead behind a kill from Serrano. After FGCU won the second set, the Bison really made things interesting. First, they used a late 4-0 run to claim the third set. In the next frame, they led 13-8 and appeared to be on the way to forcing a winner-take-all set. However, Shomaker and Morris teamed up for a block, VanLiew produced three kills and the Eagles knotted things up with a 6-1 run. Five more ties later, the Eagles got back-to-back points to take a 23-21 lead and closed the two-point win with a kill from Burnam.
"I thought our girls played with everything they had from the very first point and never let up," Rosenthal said. "Mistakes were made throughout the match and I think both coaches can say that there's an error here, an error there, but I think in the end, what you ultimately hope for is girls going for it and that's just what we had. I thought our defense tonight was just stellar. Stellar from the standpoint of the pressure that we continued to put on them."
Notes:
VanLiew's 16 kills put her up to 1,198 in her career, while her eight digs put her at 746. VanLiew needs 20 more digs to surpass Chandra Lefever (765, 2006-07, 09) for 12th all-time. VanLiew also remains in a battle with Carroll, who has 1,469 career after getting one against Lipscomb.
Morris' eight blocks were all block assists, which put her at 174 total blocks (154 block assists) which surpassed Lauren Tutwiler (170, 2014-15) for 12th all-time while also surpassing Sharonda Pickering (152, 2017-18) and Elenora Kazarian (153, 2014-15) for 12th all-time in block assists. Morris needs two total blocks to surpass Pickering (155, 2017-18) for 11th all-time, while in block assists she needs 22 to surpass Devon Watts (195, 2004-05) for ninth all-time while being in a neck and neck battle with Burnam.
"Tori was outstanding," Botsford said. "We felt really good about the matchup, and I have felt really good about the way Tori has been playing the last few weeks in practice and in preparation. The set volume was upped, and she did a tremendous job with it. She was a really good decision maker and, in the fourth set, she made some huge plays for us at the net. I'm really happy for her. She works really hard, and she's an X factor for this team."
Lockey's 52 assists put her at 1,641 career assists and remains 168 shy of surpassing Laura Manovill (1,809, 2004-05) for fourth all-time.
Burnam's seven kills helped her surpass Jelena Simic (649, 2009, 2011) for 14th all-time as she now has 651 career kills. Her eight digs put her at 586 in her career, while the five blocks, that were all block assists, put her at 182 (170th block assist), which surpassed Kaitlin Holm (167, 2011-13) for seventh all-time. Burnam needs 14 kills to surpass Watts (664, 2004-05) for 13th all-time and 14 digs to become the 17th Eagle to reach 600 digs and 15 to surpass Christine Pinder (603, 2012-13) for 16th all-time. In blocking Burnam needs seven block assists to surpass Karina Mambuca (177, 2012-13) for sixth all-time, while her next milestone in total blocks is Devon Watts (195, 2004-05) for ninth all-time in which she needs 14 to do so.
Carroll's lone ace put her at 136 in her career and needs four more to surpass Ana Kokanovic (139, 2007-08) as the all-time program leader in career aces. Her eight digs put her at 1,232 in her career and remains 138 shy of surpassing Brooke Youngquist-Sweat (1,369, 2004-07) for fourth all-time.
Axner's 33 digs were a season-high and a new career-high in a four-set match. she now has 1,168 digs in her career while remaining neck and neck with Carroll.
Botsford earned his 142nd career win with FGCU and 383rd overall. Longtime assistant coach Daniel Mahy earned his 293rd career win with the Eagles and 320th overall, while second-year assistant coach Stephanie Zelinski earned her 81st.
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