DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The FGCU volleyball team earned its fourth win in as many matches with a 3-1 win over Bethune-Cookman Tuesday night.  The Eagles defeated the Wildcats 25-16 in set one before falling 25-23 in set two.  With wins of 25-18 and 25-23, the Green and Blue took the match victory to move to 9-7 on the season, while the Wildcats fell to 6-14.

Backed by a strong setting performance by senior Gigi Meyer, the Eagles produced an attack percentage of .331 through the four-set affair. Meyer assisted on 49 of the team's 59 total kills.  With help from Meyer, the FGCU offense saw 18 kills each from senior Olivia Mesner and junior Eleonora Kazarian.  For the third-consecutive match, Mesner produced an attack percentage of over .400 as she hit .536 with just three errors on 28 attacks.

Defensively, freshman Courtney Stephens led the team with 12 digs, while senior libero Whitney Masters added eight to the team's total of 49.

"I was very impressed with Gigi [Meyer]'s performance tonight," explained head coach Matt Botsford. "When you see a hitting percentage like that, it's indicative of good decision making and good location.  She and I have spent time discussing that and from that perspective I was pleased.  We also talked a lot about trying to speed things up, especially to the outside, and I think we accomplished that tonight.  Our side-out game was our biggest problem today, but I thought our serving was good and our blocking continued to improve."

The Eagles started the match with an impressive streak.  With sophomore Caroline Jordan serving, the Eagles used seven kills, a service ace and three attack errors to produce 11-straight points to begin the first set with an 11-0 lead.  The Wildcats regrouped but were unable to cut the deficit.  With eight kills from Kazarian, the Eagles held onto the lead and took set one, 25-16.  The strong win was aided by an FGCU attack percentage of .389 in the first set.

FGCU again took the lead to begin the second set and forced a B-CU timeout with a 9-3 advantage.  The Eagles maintained the lead until the midpoint of the set when the Wildcats produced a 6-1 streak to bring the score to 15-13. Another run later in the stanza cut the Eagle lead and tied the set at 23 each.  With the score knotted, the Wildcats used a kill from the opposite side to take their first lead of the night and force an FGCU timeout.  The home team capitalized on an FGCU attack error to take the win, 25-23 and even the match at 1-1.

The Green and Blue reclaimed control of the match following the break and started set three with an 11-6 lead.  The Wildcats cut the lead to two points at 12-10 but were unable to stop the Eagle offense.  With just two errors on 21 attack attempts, the Eagles produced an attack percentage of .476 to maintain the momentum.  The team increased the lead to six points and ultimately took the win, 25-18 to take back the match lead at 2-1.

The fourth set proved to be a challenge for both teams as the Eagles traded the lead with the Wildcats five times and tied the score on eight occasions.  After a tie at 20-20, the Eagles fell behind 22-20 on kills from the Wildcat's top hitter.  With a kill from senior Jessica Barnes and two BCU attack errors, the Eagles tied the set at 23 and faced a timeout called by the home team.  Following the timeout, Mesner and Kazarian produced back-to-back kills to push the Eagles in front, 25-23 and seal the match victory.

Mesner and Kazarian each tallied four kills in the final set and both hit above .425 to lead the Green and Blue to the win.

The Eagles will return to Atlantic Sun action this weekend with two matches on the road. FGCU will take on USC Upstate Friday at 7 p.m. and will face Kennesaw State Saturday at 3 p.m.  Friday's matchup can be viewed live and free of charge on ESPN3.