FORT MYERS, Fla. – Saturday night saw another come-from-behind victory for the FGCU volleyball team as the Eagles defeated Jacksonville University 3-1 at Alico Arena.  FGCU fell to JU 25-15 in the first set before winning three-straight (25-16, 26-24, 25-23) to take the match victory. With the win, the Eagles move above .500 to 8-7 on the season and remain perfect in Atlantic Sun play with a 3-0 record.  The Dolphins fall to 9-8 overall and 1-2 in conference.

"Jacksonville played extremely well in the first set and we knew that we would have to adjust to compete," said head coach Matt Botsford after the Eagles' second victory in as many days. "Although we didn't play well in the first set, we knew we could even it out in the rest of the match with some big plays.  Making those plays shows the progress we've made in the last three or four weeks.  We are noticing that we're starting to pull out close games like we saw in the third and four sets. We're making plays when it matters and we're proud to be 3-0 in conference right now."

Backed by 20 kills from senior Olivia Mesner (Boca Raton, Fla./Spanish River High School), the Green and Blue offense produced 51 kills in the four-set bout.  Mesner also paced the Eagles with an attack percentage of .429, while Eleonora Kazarian (Tibilisi, Georgia/College of Central Florida) added 12 kills.

As a unit, the home team hit .136 on the night but allowed Jacksonville to maintain an attack percentage of .164.  The Eagles produced 72 digs compared to JU's 68, with both teams recording seven total blocks.

Defensively, senior libero Whitney Masters (Muncie, Ind./Waphani High School) paced the team's effort with 21 digs, while Kazarian produced her second double-double in as many days with 15 digs.  Lauren Tutwiler (Louisville, Ky./Assumption High School) led the team's blocking with four on the night, while Kazarian and Mesner each added three total.

The Dolphins took immediate control of set one and maintained the advantage with an attack percentage of .462.  The Eagles saw 11 kills in the set but were unable to compete with the exuberance of the Dolphin offense as JU produced 13 kills with just one error in the set. 

Jacksonville used a 5-0 run and a later 10-2 streak to hold onto the lead and went ahead 1-0 in the match with a 25-15 victory.

The Eagles quickly responded in the second set after regaining composure. After trading points early in the set, the Eagles and Dolphins tied at 13-13.  A run by the Eagles that included kills from Jessica Barnes (Winter Haven, Fla./Haines City High School) and Kazarian put the home team ahead 19-14.

FGCU maintained the lead through the final points of set two and took the win 25-16 to even the match at 1-1.

After the break, the Eagles increased their defensive play and forced Jacksonville to give up the momentum.  The team produced 30 digs and three blocks to stop the Dolphin attack, while seeing seven kills from Mesner and another four from Kazarian in the set.

The teams tied at 9-9 before FGCU produced a four-point run and forced the Dolphins to call timeout.  FGCU took hold of the lead briefly before JU tied the set at 21-21 on a kill from the right side.  Kills from Mesner and freshman Mackenzie Allen (Naples, Fla./Gulf Coast High School) put the home team ahead again before one final Mesner kill and an attack error from JU gave the Eagles the win at 26-24.  With the win in set three, the Eagles claimed the lead in the match at 2-1.

The teams traded points to begin the fourth set, but with Masters serving the Eagles produced four-straight points to take a 12-6 lead.  With momentum on their side, the Eagles maintained the lead and extended it to 18-10 with help from kills by Allen and Mesner.  The Dolphins did not stop fighting and battled back to bring the deficit to just one point at 20-19 but two kills from Kazarian and a JU error put the Eagles ahead 23-20.  FGCU maintained the two-point lead and finalized the win with another kill from Mesner.  The senior's 20th of the night gave FGCU a 25-23 win in the fourth set and pushed the team ahead to a 3-1 match victory.

FGCU and preseason favorite Lipscomb University remain the only two Atlantic Sun teams with unblemished conference slates.

As part of Saturday's Dig Pink event, the FGCU volleyball team collected $2,665 for the Side-Out Foundation which supports medical research organizations and entities dedicated to providing patient services to breast cancer patients and their families.

The Eagles will break from Atlantic Sun action for a midweek matchup with Bethune-Cookman this week.  FGCU will travel to Daytona Beach for a 7 p.m. bout against the Wildcats Tuesday before hitting the road for games at USC Upstate and Kennesaw State next weekend.