DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – After beginning the Atlantic Sun Conference season with a mark of 3-0, the FGCU volleyball team will break from league play to face in-state foe Bethune-Cookman Tuesday night.  The Eagles will travel to Moore Gymnasium for a 7 p.m. match with the Wildcats.
 
THE GREEN AND BLUE
FGCU currently stands at 8-7 on the season after winning three-straight matches against conference opposition.  The team defeated UNF in a five-set thriller and beat Jacksonville 3-1 this weekend to move above .500.
 
As a unit, the Eagles have maintained an attack percentage of .180 on the season, while allowing opponents to hit .187.  The team has outperformed its opposition in kills, assists and digs per set but has fallen behind in the blocking effort.
 
Backed by a team-high 3.18 kills per set from senior Jessica Barnes (Winter Haven, Fla./Haines City High School), the Green and Blue average 13.1 kills per stanza.  Eleonora Kazarian (Tibilisi, Georgia/College of Central Florida) and Olivia Mesner (Boca Raton, Fla./Spanish River High School) also contribute heavily to the team's total with 2.97 and 2.92 kills per set, respectively.  Mesner leads the team's accuracy with a league-leading attack percentage of .347 and has also recorded 37 of the team's total 89.5 blocks on the year.
 
Freshman Lauren Tutwiler (Louisville, Ky./Assumption High School) leads the blocking effort with 43 blocks in her rookie campaign.  Senior libero Whitney Masters (Muncie, Ind./Wapahani High School) has paced the team with 254 digs on the season, while classmate and co-captain Gigi Meyer (Gainesville, Fla./Buchholz High School) has added 147.  Meyer has created a lucid attack for the Eagles this season with 664 assists.  Meyer became the all-time assist leader in FGCU program history earlier in the season and set the program's single-match record in Division I competition with 68 against UNF.  
 
SCOUTING BETHUNE-COOKMAN
 
With a 6-13 record on the season, the Wildcats welcome FGCU to Moore Gymnasium for their first nonconference home game of the year.  Led by fourth-year head coach Isaac Raphael, B-CU is 4-0 in MEAC play but has fallen on six occasions to similar foes that the Eagles have faced.  The Wildcats have challenged FAU twice, Stetson twice and UNF and Jacksonville once each and have earned just two set wins with six match losses.
 
Collectively, Bethune-Cookman has maintained an attack percentage of .139 on the season, while allowing foes to hit .215.  The team has produced 10.1 kills with 9.3 assists and 12.4 digs per set, while producing 101.5 total blocks.
 
The Wildcat offense is led by junior Rhea Simon's 3.04 kills per set, with help from Delicia Pierre's 2.37 attacks.  Hazel Ortiz-Rosado facilitates the offense with 7.76 assists per set.
 
Defensively, B-CU receives 3.14 digs per set from sophomore Normarie Rolon with 2.27 from Simon and 2.19 from Rechez Lindsay.  Freshman Rakaya Neely leads the team's blocking with 51 total on the season with five others contributing in double-figures.
 
Tuesday will mark the sixth meeting between the Sunshine State teams since the 2007 season.  The Eagles are undefeated with just one set lost in that time.  Last season, the Green and Blue saw 15 kills from Barnes and defeated the Wildcats 3-0 in Daytona Beach.
 
UP NEXT
After Tuesday's contest, the Eagles will continue Atlantic Sun play on the road. In an effort to remain undefeated, FGCU will take on USC Upstate Friday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. and will face Kennesaw State at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11.
 
For up-to-the minute information and a behind-the-scenes look at the FGCU volleyball program, follow on Twitter at @FGCU_VB, on Facebook at /FGCUVolleyball and on Instagram at @FGCU_VB.
 
Head coach Matt Botsford is in his first year at the helm of the FGCU volleyball program. Prior to his time in Southwest Florida, Botsford held successful stints as an assistant at Notre Dame, Miami, IUIPI, Indianapolis and most recently Colorado State. Botsford is a former professional volleyball player and is a 1998 graduate of Tri-State University, where he earned a degree in Social Studies Education.  He earned a master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Indianapolis.