FORT MYERS, Fla. — For the second-consecutive night, the FGCU volleyball team earned a 3-0 win in Atlantic Sun Conference play at Alico Arena. The Eagles defeated USC Upstate (25-14, 25-22, 26-24) Saturday evening to move to 17-9 on the season with a 10-2 mark in conference action, while the Spartans fell to 10-17 overall and 1-10 in A-Sun play.
 
With six-consecutive sets won this weekend, the Eagles have not only clinched a position in the 2014 Atlantic Sun Championship, but have also secured a first-round bye in the tournament. The three-day event is slated for Nov. 20-22 at Alico Arena and will feature the league's top six teams.
 
The Eagle offense was led by a 14-kill performance from senior Olivia Mesner (Boca Raton, Spanish River High School). Senior Jessica Barnes (Winter Haven, Fla./Haines City High School) and freshman Mackenzie Allen (Naples, Fla./Gulf Coast High School) each added double figures with 11 and 10 kills, respectively, while Mesner led the team's efficiency with an attack percentage of .462. Gigi Meyer (Gainesville, Fla./Buchholz High School) aided in the offensive production with 46 assists on the night.
 
Defensively, Whitney Masters (Muncie, Ind./Wapahani High School)led the team with 17 digs.
 
As a unit, the team produced an attack percentage of .293 with 48 kills, while ousting the Spartan's attack effort with 52 digs and five total blocks. Upstate was held to just 36 kills and produced 43 digs with one total block.
 
"I think this weekend we took a big step forward in terms of serve receive and our side-out defense," said head coach Matt Botsford after the team's 12th win in 14 matches. "That's something we've put a lot of emphasis on in the last few weeks and it's starting to pay dividends for us. Tonight, I was really pleased with our in-system offense. The consistency we're playing with right now is really important at this time of the season."
 
After an Upstate ace started the match, the Eagles and Spartans traded rallies to hold a 3-3 tie.  With the score at 5-4 in FGCU's favor, the Eagles constructed a 6-1 run to go ahead 11-5 and force the Spartans to call timeout. The visiting team used a three-point streak to bring the set within five points again at 14-9 but the Green and Blue rallied for a five-point streak of its own to increase the advantage to double figures.
 
Upstate called its second timeout of the set as FGCU led 19-9 but was unable to bring the score any closer than nine points through the duration of the set.  With kills from Allen and junior Eleonora Kazarian (Tibilisi, Georgia/College of Central Florida), the Eagles maintained the lead and took set one 25-14.
 
The Spartans again scored first to start the second set and sparked a challenge for the Eagles as the teams traded points and the lead a handful of times. With the score tied at 9-9, freshman Courtney Stephens (Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park High School) pushed the Eagles in front with an ace before a series of attack errors from Upstate gave the home team a five-point advantage again.
 
Upstate hailed for a timeout with a 15-10 deficit but saw as the home team increased the lead to seven points at 19-12.  FGCU maintained the lead through the next seven point exchanges but allowed the opposition to ignite a run late in the set.
 
FGCU saw as Upstate scored four of five points to cut the score to 23-20 before the Spartans added two more points on consecutive kills. With a 24-22 lead, Mesner fired a hearty kill from the right side to seal the set and put the Eagles ahead 2-0 in the match.
 
After the break, both teams were poised for battle as the Eagles looked to finish the match and the Spartans hoped to avoid the sweep.  The teams traded rallies in the opening portion of the stanza and saw tie scores at 6, 8, 10, 11, 12 and 13 points before consecutive kills put the home team ahead 15-13. The Eagles held onto the slight lead briefly but saw as Upstate again tied the score at 18 all.
 
With the score even, the Eagles capitalized on two Spartan errors to reclaim the lead at 20-18. FGCU maintained a two-point advantage but allowed the Spartans to match the two-point run and tie the set at 24 on a kill and an FGCU attack error. With the sweep still at hand, FGCU crafted kills from Barnes and Kazarian to move the score to 26-24 and seal the three-set victory.
 
The sweep was the team's seventh three-set win of the season. The Eagles have dropped just one match in three sets this year.
 
The Eagles conclude nonconference action Wednesday, Nov. 12 with a final regular season contest at Alico Arena. The team will take on FIU at 7 p.m. before wrapping up the regular season at Jacksonville and UNF next weekend.
 
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.