FORT MYERS, Fla., - The FGCU volleyball team extended its home winning streak to 24 matches with a 3-1 (30-23, 30-28, 28-30, 30-22) win over Jacksonville. With the win, FGCU moves to 18-2 while Jacksonville falls to 13-11.

“I thought that we came out a little slow tonight,” said Coach Carrie Lundy. “I give Jacksonville all the credit in that. We knew that they were a great blocking team, but I was very impressed with their back row defense. They forced several long rallies tonight.”

JU opened up the game with a 5-0 run before Audrey Campbell (Tampa, Fla.) put FGCU on the board. FGCU would slowly climb back into game one and knot the score at 18 all. FGCU would take their first lead on an ace by Brooke Youngquist (Fort Myers, Fla.). FGCU used a pair of 3-0 runs to take a comfortable 28-23 lead and force a pair of JU errors to take 30-23 win in game one.

Game two featured 13 ties and neither team could put together a run, the largest lead either team held was two as FGCU won 30-28. JU racked up 17 kills in the game while FGCU tallied 16.

The third game started the same way game two ended and featured nine ties before a 7-1 run by the Dolphins led to a 22-16 JU lead. The Eagles rallied behind a pair of aces by Ana Kokanovic (Lazarevac, Serbia) helped fuel a 7-0 FGCU run. The Dolphins were able to regain control and hold on for a 30-28 win.

After dropping a rare game in Alico Arena, the Eagles responded and jumped out to an 18-9 lead over JU. The Eagles would hang on for a 30-22 win to take the match 3-1. Sara Bendorf and Melissa Merchant led the Dolphins with 16 kills apiece. Bendorf added 15 digs while Merchant added four blocks.

Ana Kokanovic paced the Eagles with 15 kills on the night. Audrey Campbell and Ashley Yance (Fort Myers, Fla.) each recorded seven kills in the match. Yance added four blocks and Campbell recorded three blocks in the match.

The Eagles will be in action again tomorrow night at 7:00 pm when they host North Florida in the final home match for seniors Brooke Youngquist, Whitney Hendry and Patricia Silva.

Notes

FGCU hit under .250 as a team in consecutive matches for the first time this season.

The Eagles have won 24 straight matches in Alico Arena.

Brooke Youngquist recorded her 13th double-double of the season.

Ana Kokanovic has picked up at least 10 kills in 11 straight matches.

Kokanovic has also served up at least three aces in 10 straight matches.

Tonight's match was not an Atlantic Sun Conference match.  The two meet on 11/3 in Jacksonville in A-Sun play.