NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In a repeat of the Oct. 17 matchup at Alico Arena, the FGCU volleyball team fell to Lipscomb University 3-1 Saturday afternoon at Allen Arena.  The Eagles earned a 25-23 win in the first set before dropping three-straight (27-25, 25-21, 25-16). With the loss, the Eagles fall to second place in the Atlantic Sun Conference standings with a record of 15-9 overall and 8-2 in conference play.  The Bisons maintain a first-place standing with a mark of 16-7 on the year and 9-1 in league play. 
 
With the win, Lipscomb clinched a position in the 2014 Atlantic Sun Conference Championship, which is slated for Nov. 20-22 at Alico Arena. FGCU needs one 'W' to earn a spot in the field.
 
As a unit, the Eagles hit .220 on the day, while allowing the home team to successfully attack at a rate of .274.  The Bisons produced 65 kills, compared to the Eagles' 52 but the Green and Blue outpaced LU 60-58 in digs and 9-4 in total blocks.
 
Offensively, senior Jessica Barnes (Winter Haven, Fla./Haines City High School) led the Eagles with 17 kills on the day, while from junior Eleonora Kazarian (Tibilisi, Georgia/College of Central Florida) and senior Olivia Mesner (Boca Raton, Spanish River High School) added 15 and 11, respectively.  Senior setter Gigi Meyer (Gainesville, Fla./Buchholz High School) distributed the ball for the Green and Blue with 47 assists in the four-set match.
 
On the defensive side, Whitney Masters (Muncie, Ind./Wapahani High School) led the team with 18 digs, while Kazarian and Masters contributed 13 and 10, respectively.  Kazarian's performance was good for her ninth double-double of the season, with Meyers also tallying a double-double in Nashville.
 
"I thought we played extremely well through the first two sets," explained head coach Matt Botsford. "But as the was the case last time we faced Lipscomb, sustainability became a problem. They are very good at pressuring from the service line and eventually it started to impact what we could do offensively. From the defensive side of things, we struggled all night getting stops.  Lipscomb took advantage of some favorable matchups and I don't think we adjusted particularly well. We will examine this match very closely and look to clean up those deficiencies in practice moving forward."
Although the Eagles produced four aces in the match, the Green and Blue was tabbed with nine service errors.
 
FGCU and Lipscomb played out the first four exchanges of the match evenly before back-to-back Bison errors put the Eagles ahead, 4-2. Mesner and Barnes pounded down respective kills to snatch a three-point advantage, 6-3 and the duet of Kazarian and freshman Lauren Tutwiler (Louisville, Ky./Assumption High School) joined forces for a block on the right side to maintain that lead, 10-7.
 
The three-point advantage proved to be the loftiest of the first set after LU's Sophie Kellerman tied the game up, 13-13 on a kill up front. The offense shifted towards Lipscomb's side for a moment after the Bisons registered respective kills to push ahead by two midway through the first frame, 16-14. Following the quick Bison run, Lipscomb committed three errors amidst a Kazarian kill as FGCU recaptured a two-point edge, 18-16.
 
A Lipscomb timeout proved ineffective for both sides as the teams swapped service errors before Lipscomb tied it up, 20-20, on a quick 4-2 run. Three successive errors followed before Kazarian's kill garnered the serve back on FGCU's side with the first set still locked, 22-22. Barnes missed on her next attempt, but on the next volley, the senior hitter made up for it with a strong kill through the LU defense. A Masters' ace and a Bisons' attacking error sealed the first set for FGCU, 25-23.
 
FGCU staged a formidable threat to go up 2-0 in the match following strong play in the middle of the second stanza, but a few errors down the stretch doomed the Eagles in a hard-fought second frame.
 
Freshman Mackenzie Allen (Naples, Fla./Gulf Coast High School) and Mesner both landed successful swings in the opening portion of the second as things were even at 10-10. Barnes and Kazarian also shouldered some of the offense within that window, but LU negated both of those kills with a pair of her own to keep the second set locked up.
 
The Eagles rattled off a 4-1 spurt to claim a three-point lead, 14-11, thanks to three kills from Barnes within a five exchange span.
 
Lipscomb responded with a 4-1 run of its own before an Eagle handling error tied the set at 15-15. The Bisons went on another flurry and won the next four points to take a 19-15 lead.
 
After a timeout, the Eagles rallied to tie the set at 21, thanks to astute hitting from Kazarian, Mesner and sophomore Shelby Joslin (Alva, Fla./Evangelical Christian School). It appeared as if momentum shifted towards the Eagles' end after Mesner and Barnes went back-to-back to regain a 23-22 lead. Following FGCU's quick offensive outburst, both teams exchanged service errors to put the Eagles on the brink of victory, 24-23.
 
However, the Bisons responded on the next play to tie it late, 25-25 before two FGCU errors gave way to the Bisons' 27-25 second set victory.
 
The third set initiated much like the second stanza as both teams battled to a 14-14 stalemate.
 
Meyer and Kazarian each landed a kill in that run but the Eagles committed three errors down the stretch to keep Lipscomb afloat. After a Barnes kill to even the score, the Bisons went on a 4-2 run and never looked back.
 
The Bisons' middles took control, killing three of the next five plays and forced FGCU into a pair of errors and a 20-16 deficit. The Eagles played Lipscomb even for the last 10 plays, but the Bisons' lead was too large to overcome as one final kill sealed the third set, 25-21 and pushed the home team ahead 2-1.
 
In the fourth and final set, FGCU and Lipscomb played evenly in the early goings, but a folly of Eagle attacking errors midway through triggered a Bisons' run that became too large to overcome.
 
The score opened up, 10-9, after Kazarian found her groove with three kills while Barnes and Mesner each nailed a pair, but LU matched each swing and took the one-point edge after a Katie Bradley and Ford block.
 
Following Lipscomb's defense, FGCU committed a pair of errors and the Eagles hailed for timeout down two, 11-9. Following the breather, Lipscomb forced FGCU into more attacking woes before a kill put the Bisons up 15-9.
 
The Eagles never got any closer than four points down the stretch after a Barnes kill to make it 20-16. FGCU called for timeout down 23-16, but after the break, LU produced two more kills to claim a 25-16 fourth set victory to put away the match.
 
The loss is the team's second blemish on an otherwise perfect Atlantic Sun Conference slate. FGCU currently holds second place in the eight-team league, with just one more loss than top-ranked Lipscomb.
 
The Eagles return home for a three-game series next weekend as the Green and Blue host Kennesaw State, USC Upstate and FIU.  The team will take on KSU Friday, Nov. 7 at 6:30 p.m. before matching up with USC Upstate Saturday, Nov. 8 at 5 p.m.  Saturday's contest will feature a special senior ceremony prior to the bout, where Mesner, Meyer, Barnes and Masters will be honored for their contributions to the program.  Following the A-Sun matchups, the team will conclude nonconference action with a Tuesday night battle with FIU. The match on Nov. 12 is slated for 7 p.m.
 
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.