Florida Gulf Coast University Athletics issued the following announcement on Sept. 4.
A balanced effort in the finale of the Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic helped the FGCU volleyball team (6-0) to a three-set win – 25-10, 25-16, 25-15 – over USC Upstate (1-4) on Friday night at Alico Arena. The win improved the Eagles to 6-0 which tied the program's best start to a season and made the Green and Blue one of just four teams nationally to have not lost a single set this year.
With the sixth perfect sweep, FGCU also extended its program record with 18 unbeaten sets. The six-match win streak tied both the 2004 and 2019 squads for the best start to a year.
All told, the Eagles join Auburn (4-0), Memphis (6-0), and New Mexico (6-0) as the only teams not to lose a set on the year.
FGCU won the overall team title for the Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic with Juliana Lentz's (Miami, Fla./St. Brendan HS) being named the MVP. Dana Axner (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman HS) joined her on the All-Tournament Team to represent the Eagles. Kelly Wiedemann of USC Upstate, Giada Bianchi of FIU, and Dominique Washington of FAMU were also named to the squad.
"Defensively, it was another great performance from the team tonight," said head coach Matt Botsford. "There was a pretty nice coordination between the front and back row that wasn't there as much in the morning match and that was good progress to see. We were able to try a few different personnel in the match."
In Saturday night's match-up, the Eagles were led by Erin Shomaker (Granville, Ohio/Granville HS) who had eight kills followed by Aja Jones (Venice, Fla./Venice HS), Cortney VanLiew (Seymour, Ind./Columbus East HS), and Skylar English (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) who each had six kills. Chelsey Lockey (Eaton, Colo./Eaton HS) had a double-double with 22 assists and 11 digs, while Axner posted a match-high 18 digs.
VanLiew also added 10 digs to move into 6th all-time with 948 for her career. She passed Gigi Myers who had 947 from 2011-14. VanLiew is on the verge of joining Brooke Youngquist Sweat as the only players to post 1,000-plus kills and 1,000-plus digs. She needs 14 more kills to surpass Amanda Carroll (1483, 2015-19) to become the program's all-time leader.
USC Upstate was led by Breeana Gamueda who had seven kills, while Allie Hamsher had 10 assists. Julia Gladhill added 16 digs.
The Eagles hit .266 while holding the Spartans to -0.53 for the night. FGCU had 36 kills to just 19 for USC Upstate and committed 14 fewer attack errors (11 total).
In the first set, FGCU used a 14-to-2 run midway through to open things up en route to the 25-10 win. The second set started a bit more closely, but after being tied 7-7, the Eagles scored five straight to begin pulling away. After the Spartans closed within three, 19-16, FGCU closed the match on a six-point run for the win. The final set of the night had the Green and Blue jumping out to a 10-2 lead and led by as many as 13, 21-8. The Spartans pulled within seven, but an Upstate service error followed by a kill from English and then an attack error gave FGCU the match win.
All-Tournament Team
FGCU - Juliana Lentz – MVP
FGCU – Dana Axner
USC Upstate – Kelly Wiedemann
FIU – Giada Bianchi
FAMU – Dominique Washington
The Eagles will return to action next Friday and Saturday, Sept. 10-11, at the UCF Invitational in Orlando. FGCU will take on the Knights on Friday at 10 AM before facing Georgia at 5:30 PM. On Saturday, the Green and Blue will take on Florida State with the first serve set for 5:30 PM.
Original source can be found here.
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