ARLINGTON, Texas – The FGCU volleyball team finished the first day of the Hilton Maverick Invitational splitting a pair of matches with a shutout win over Houston Baptist before falling to host UT Arlington at College Park Center on Friday. The Eagles opened the tournament with a three-set sweep of Houston Baptist to improved to 3-4 on the year with wins of 25-17, 25-22 and 25-20 before falling to host UT Arlington in four sets, 25-18, 21-25, 25-19, 25-23. After the first day of tournament action, the Eagles stand at 3-5 on the season.
"Olivia was very good for us offensively and our ball handling was good overall throughout the day," head coach
Matt Botsford said. "UTA had a few too many offensive weapons and ultimately we couldn't get the key stops we needed to extend the match to a fifth set. Right now we are learning the hard way just how important game management is when you are playing quality opponents. We are scoring well from an offensive standpoint but are too high on errors in getting there. Right now that has proven to be the biggest difference in these close matches."
HOUSTON BAPTISTThe Eagles used a strong attack in the opening match and outmatched the Huskies to open the weekend. Led by a trio of strong performances offensively, the team produced 52 total kills and an attack percentage of .254 in the match.
Senior
Jessica Barnes (Winter Haven, Fla./Haines City High School) led the team with 15 kills, while
Vanessa Benke (Toledo, Brazil/College of Central Florida) and
Eleonora Kazarian (Tibilisi, Georgia/College of Central Florida) added 14 and 10, respectively.
Setter
Gigi Meyer (Gainesville, Fla./Buchholz High School) assisted on 47 of the team's total kills, while the team used a balanced effort defensively.
Benke paced the Eagles with 14 digs, while freshman
Courtney Stephens (Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park High School) and senior
Whitney Masters (Muncie, Ind./Wapahani High School) each added 10. Kazarian and rookie
Lauren Tutwiler (Louisville, Ky./Assumption High School) produced four blocks each in the win.
UT ARLINGTON In its second match of the day FGCU brought strong play offensively, registering 60 kills as a team, but producing only four blocks the Eagles defense couldn't hold the Mavericks, who move to 9-2 on the season.
Senior
Olivia Mesner (Boca Raton, Fla./Spanish River High School) led the offense producing 16 kills through the four-set bout with a team-high attack percentage of .367. Aiding Mesner in offensive play was Kazarian, recording 13 kills and 11 digs to tally her second double-double of the season. Benke and Barnes added another 15 and 12 kills, respectively.
Meyer added assists on 49 out of FGCU's 60 total kills, in addition to adding 11 digs. Masters racked up 26 digs in the four-set effort.
In a back-and-forth beginning of the first set with the two teams knotted at 10 points apiece, UTA went on a 6-1 run that put the Mavs up 16-11. The Eagles did their best to close the gap as they brought the score to within three points, trailing UTA at the 18-15 mark, but a string of kills from UTA's Hannah Baptiste gave the set to the Mavs. In the opening set the Mavericks committed only one error and hit .444 percent, easily their best percentage of the evening.
The second set ended completely differently, with the Eagles dwarfing the Mavericks attack total of 37 with 49 of their own. With the Mavs leading set two at 13-7, FGCU stormed back with a dominant 12-1 run to put the Eagles up 19-14 before winning the frame 25-21.
Unfortunately, the next two sets would be dictated by Arlington's execution, including a third set in which they committed one third as many errors as their counterpart Eagles. The fourth and final frame began positively for the Green and Blue, leading by as many as three early on. However that score would not hold as the Mavericks snatched the final set with a score of 25-23.
UP NEXTThe Eagles will continue play at the UT-Arlington Hilton Maverick Invitational on Saturday with a 12 p.m. matchup with Texas Southern. Following the weekend in Texas, the Eagles will return to the friendly confines of Alico Arena for the 2014 Hilton Garden Inn/Homewood Suites Classic. The Green and Blue will welcome Alabama State, Missouri-Kansas City and FAU for the two-day tournament Sept. 19-20.
