COLUMBUS, Ohio – With a thrilling five-set victory and a strong fight against the host, the FGCU volleyball team split a pair of games Friday in Columbus. The Eagles earned 3-2 a win in a full-length battle with Southern Illinois Friday morning at St. John Arena to begin the D.C. Koehl Classic but were edged by host Ohio State in the evening matchup, 3-1. With the split, the Eagles move to 2-3 on the season with one more match scheduled for this weekend.
The Green and Blue earned a 25-21 win in set one of the morning matchup but dropped sets two and three (25-12, 25-12) to fall behind in the match. After trailing 12-8 in set four, the Eagles battled back for a 25-12 win in set four and pulled out a 16-14 fifth-set win to earn the match victory.
The Eagles tested the Big Ten hosts to take set one, 25-22, but fell in three-consecutive sets (25-20, 26-24, 25-18) to lose the evening match.
SOUTHERN ILLINOISLed by a career-high 23 kills from junior transfer
Eleonora Kazarian (Tabilisi, Georgia/College of Central Florida), the Eagles battled to a five-set victory over SIU in the morning bout. Kazarian led all players in kills and maintained an attack percentage of .409.
"I was very pleased with the way Ella [Kazarian] performed throughout the entirety of the match against SIU," said head coach
Matt Botsford. "She is just scratching at the surface of what she can do and we certainly caught a glimpse of that this morning.
I'm happy with our fight and our composure in set five. SIU won the serve and pass game, which more times than not leads to wins, but our bench made big plays and our attackers maintained an aggressive mindset. We have to manage that side of the game better in future matches but I am pleased with the win."
Senior
Olivia Mesner (Boca Raton, Fla./Spanish River High School) added 14 kills for the Eagles with a game-high attack rate of .524, while
Jessica Barnes (Winter Haven, Fla./Haines City High School) also added double-figure points with 11 kills.
Senior setter
Gigi Meyer (Gainesville, Fla./Buchholz High School) facilitated the offense with 51 assists and led the defense with 11 digs on the match. Meyer also aided in the victory with a serve percentage of .895 with one service ace.
Meyer's ace came at an opportune time, as the she started the match with the point in favor of the Eagles. The team capitalized on the strong start and went ahead 14-7 with a .500 attack percentage in the early part of the first set. The Salukis challenged the Eagles and brought the deficit to just three points later in the set. After trading points, SIU brought the score to 21-19, forcing FGCU to call timeout.
Vanessa Benke (Toledo, Brazil/College of Central Florida) and Barnes tallied back-to-back kills immediately out of the timeout to reclaim control for the Eagles before a Kazarian kill sealed the win at 25-21 in favor of the Green and Blue.
The Eagles produced a strong start to set two and took an early 7-2 lead. However, attack errors quickly plagued the Eagles and allowed the Salukis to tie the set at 9-9. The Green and Blue reclaimed the lead at 16-12 but after a timeout, SIU used one kill and four FGCU attack errors to tie the set at 16.
The Salukis went ahead 17-16 on a service ace and never relinquished the lead. The opposition continued to capitalize on FGCU errors and ultimately took the set, 25-21 to even the match.
SIU carried the momentum into set three and rapidly took a 5-0 lead. An FGCU timeout did not stifle the Saluki attack and SIU went ahead 10-2 before the Eagles could gain composure. FGCU battled for points but was never able to close the deficit.
With an attack percentage of .000 compared to SIU's .444, the Eagles fell behind and dropped set three, 25-12 to fall 2-1 in the match.
FGCU gained control of its attack in set four and used four SIU attack errors to take a 4-1 lead to start. The Eagles improved the lead to 8-4 and went ahead 11-5 with strong attack play from Kazarian.
The teams traded points, enabling the Eagles to maintain the lead midway through the set, but the Salukis battled back to bring to score within two points late in the set. With a 23-21 advantage, the Eagles used a strong kill from Barnes and an SIU attack error to take the win, 25-21 and even the match at 2-2.
The deciding set saw four tie scores and two lead changes as both teams battled to earn the tournament's first victory.
After a series of traded points, the Salukis took an 11-7 lead, forcing FGCU to call timeout. A kill from Mesner and four SIU errors brought the score to 13-12 before Botsford called timeout to help FGCU settle in as match point approached. Following the timeout, freshman
Courtney Stephens (Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park High School) entered the match and tied the set at 13 with a service ace.
The teams exchanged kills to tie the set at 14 before Kazarian recorded three-straight kills to stifle the Saluki game and lead the Eagles to a 16-14 win. The 3-2 Eagles' five-set victory was their second of the season.
OHIO STATEThe Eagles proved to be a test for the hosts as the Green and Blue picked up a set-one victory and challenged the Buckeyes to extra points in the third set. In the end, the Big Ten foe and host squeaked out a victory, despite strong play by the Eagles.
"I was pleased with our ability to create point scoring opportunities even when things weren't perfect," explained Botsford of the fight with the Buckeyes. "Our serve and pass game improved in the evening match but in the end, we are going to have to make big strides in our blocking in order to slow teams down. That was out biggest gap against OSU. Even still, we managed to pick up in other phases of our game to compensate and we made progress in our overall game plan today."
A trio of Eagles led the team with 12 kills each against the Buckeyes. Mesner, Barnes and Benke paced the team with the double-digit figure, while Kazarian added eight to the team's total of 50 kills on the night. The Green and Blue maintained an attack percentage of .116, compared to OSU's .236, but recorded just four fewer kills.
With family in the stands, Meyer set up the offense with 42 assists and added nine digs for FGCU. Kazarian led the defense with 15 digs and three total blocks, while Mesner added three, including one solo block which set a new FGCU program record as her 53rd career solo block.
In front of the home crowd of 1,388, the Eagles got off to a strong start in set one. Backed by a hitting percentage of .265, the Green and Blue produced 14 kills on 34 attempts to take an early lead in the match.
The home team started set one with a 7-3 lead but watched as FGCU diminished the deficit with help from a series of errors by the Buckeyes. The Eagles tied the set at 11 all and continued to chip away at the OSU advantage with a strong passing game. After the Buckeyes reclaimed a slight lead, kills from Kazarian and Barnes tied the set again at 19.
Consecutive kills from Barnes and freshman
Lauren Tutwiler (Louisville, Ky./Assumption High School) gave the Eagles their first lead of the night at 21-19. The Buckeyes responded quickly but were unable to bring the score within two points in the final moments of the set. Attacks from Barnes and Kazarian sealed the win for FGCU at 25-22 to put the Eagles up 1-0 at St. John Arena.
The Buckeyes responded to the loss with a strong start in set two. The team used four kills and three FGCU errors to take a 7-2 lead and force FGCU to burn a timeout early in the set. However, after trading points and trailing 14-8, the Eagles rallied to produce a 9-3 run and tie the set at 17 each. The run included kills from Barnes, Tutwiler, Benke and Mesner and five OSU errors.
After the tie score, the Buckeyes reclaimed control of the game and forced several Eagle errors to take back the set's momentum. OSU went ahead 22-19 on a strong kill and maintained the advantage. The home team used a four-point run to end the set and take a 25-20 win to even the match at 1-1.
The teams were back to battle in set three and produced another exciting set. The Eagles and Buckeyes traded points to open the stanza and tied at five and eight points before kills from Mesner and Barnes helped the Eagles take an 11-8 lead.
The Eagles maintained a slight edge before OSU rallied to tie the set at 19. A Mesner kill put the Green and Blue up 20-19 briefly but the Buckeyes were quick to tie the set with a kill. The Eagles rallied for a four-point streak with help from kills from Meyer, Benke and Kazarian and a Meyer ace and took a 24-20 lead but the Buckeyes retaliated at set point.
Down 24-20, the home team produced a six-point run to steal the victory in set three, 26-24 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
OSU carried the momentum into the fourth set and immediately took a 10-1 lead. The Eagles scored a series of points on Buckeye errors but could not find a rhythm to challenge the home team and let the deficit increase to a set-high eight points late in the stanza. The host Buckeyes used an attack percentage of .345 and ultimately earned the set-four win at 25-18 to take the match victory 3-1.
UP NEXTThe Eagles will break from competition on Saturday and will conclude action at the D.C. Koehl Classic on Sunday, Sept. 7 with an 11 a.m. match against the SEC's Auburn Tigers. The Tigers went 0-2 against the Salukis and Buckeyes in Friday's action.
