FORT MYERS, Fla. – Sophomore Kaitlin Holm (Fort Myers, Fla./Fort Myers HS/Marshall) finished with a team-high 13 kills as the FGCU Volleyball team fell to Villanova, 3-1 (20-25, 26-24, 18-25, 19-25), on 'Senior Day' at Alico Arena.
Seniors Jelena Simic (Lazarevac, Serbia/Kolubara Technical/Seward County CC), Holly Youngquist (Estero, Fla./Evangelical Christian HS), Keishla Negron (Caroline, Puerto Rico/Coral Shores HS) and Lara Metz (Land O'Lakes, Fla.Hudson HS) were each honored in a pregame presentation.
With the win Villanova improves to 17-10, while FGCU falls to 15-11 on the season.
Holm added two digs and a block in the win. Simic recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 17 digs. Sophomore Jessica Barnes (Winter Haven, Fla./Haines City HS) and freshman Jill Hopper (Muncie, Ind.Yorktown HS) each finished with eight kills and four digs. Freshman setter Gigi Meyer (Gainesville, Fla./Buchholz HS) finished with 43 assists. Youngquist chipped in with 24 digs and four assists.
Maggie Mergen recorded a match-high 18 kills to lead the Wildcats, while Kim Maroon added a match-high 36 digs for Villanova.
FGCU shot out to a quick 10-7 lead to open the first set. Back-to-back points from the Wildcats cut the Eagles advantage to 10-8, but the Green and Blue responded with a 5-1 run to push ahead 15-9. Trailing 16-11, Villanova employed a 13-4 spurt to take the opening set 25-20.
The second set, which saw nine ties, was highly contested. With the scored tied at 21-21, Hopper and VU's Mergen traded a pair of kills to make the score 23-23. Holm broke the tie with a kill to give the Eagles a 24-23 advantage and set-point. After an FGCU error tied the set again, this time at 24-24, the Green and Blue held off the Wildcats to pick up a 26-24 win.
In the third set, Villanova grabbed a 6-5 lead and never looked back as they went on to win the game 25-18.
The teams battles to an 11-11 tie to start the fourth game. Trailing VU, 15-12, FGCU gave up a kill to Mergen (16-12) and were forced to call a timeout. The Wildcats went on to pick up the 25-19 win and take the match 3-1.
The Eagles will be back in action Tuesday night (Nov. 8) when they travel to Miami to face FIU at 6:30 p.m. Live stats for the match will be available on www.FIUSports.com.
