FORT MYERS, Fla. – Needing a victory to secure the No. 2 seed in the 2015 Atlantic Sun Championships, FGCU volleyball swept the NJIT Highlanders (25-12, 25-19, 25-21) Saturday (Nov. 14). The win gives the Green and Blue a first round bye in the upcoming tournament, finishing with the second-best record in the A-Sun at 10-4 and 21-10 overall. The Highlanders meanwhile fell to 6-24 overall and 1-12 in conference play. Prior to the match, the Eagles celebrated Senior Night, recognizing the contributions of departing seniors Vanessa Benke and Eleonora Kazarian.

"I'm glad we could get a win for those two in particular," said head coach Matt Botsford. "They've really meant a lot to us and to this program. Obviously we still have some season left but it was still nice to send them off with a win at home. Otherwise it was a pretty disappointing night. We've played NJIT twice and it's been the same story twice. We keep waiting for the adjustments and they don't happen fast enough. They got a little error-prone tonight and we took advantage of that but we weren't as clean as we needed to be."

Kazarian (Tibilisi, Georgia/College of Central Florida) embraced the Senior Night spotlight, leading the Eagles with 16 kills, her highest total since Oct. 17 against Jacksonville. The senior was aided by five kills from Amanda Carroll (Albuquerque, N.M./Sandia High School) and four each from Marlene Moeller (Lüdinghausen, Germany/Pascal Gymnasium), Lauren Tutwiler (Louisville, Ky./Assumption High School) and Leigh Pudwill (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial High School/Northern Iowa). Maggie Rick (Alpharetta, Ga./Blessed Trinity Catholic High School) finished the night with 24 assists and also tallied four digs and one kill. Moeller added five blocks for FGCU to lead the team while Kazarian and Carroll each posted three. Benke (Toledo, Brazil/College of Central Florida) recorded 17 digs on the night to lead the floor defense.

The Eagles built on an emotional Senior Night ceremony, jumping out to a 16-9 lead before finishing off the first game 25-12. The second set proved to be a much different task for the home side following an early 9-1 advantage. NJIT cut the Eagle lead to one before FGCU rallied late in the second, claiming a 25-19 win. The Green and Blue were unable to gain control of the third set until a pair of Kazarian kills pushed FGCU in front 22-20, as the Eagles closed out the match with a 25-21 third set win.

After going down 2-0 right away, FGCU went on a 5-0 run to pull ahead of the Highlanders, including two-straight kills from Kazarian. The Eagles weren't able to create a larger separation, as NJIT kept the deficit to three. Leading 11-8, FGCU went on a 3-0 run headlined by kills from Moeller and Pudwill to prompt an NJIT timeout. The Eagles kept the pressure on out of the timeout, as they lengthened their lead to 17-10. Leading 18-11, Moeller and Kazarian teamed up to block an NJIT attack, prompting another timeout from the visitors. The Green and Blue kept the momentum going, closing the set on a 6-0 run to win in dominant fashion, 25-12. Rick set the team on track with nine assists and Kazarian led the way with four kills. Moeller was instrumental along the net in the first set, recording three blocks.

The Highlanders turned up the pressure in the second set on the Eagles, keeping it close after a rugged start. FGCU raced out to a 6-1 lead, capped off by an ace from Pudwill that forced the Highlanders to use a timeout. Again, FGCU continued to extend the lead, stretching it to 9-1. NJIT responded with a run of its own, scoring seven-straight points to pull within one at 9-8. The set went back and forth from that point, with kills from Carroll and Kazarian keeping FGCU on top. However, the Highlanders wouldn't go away, and an attack-error forced FGCU to call timeout leading 17-16. FGCU used two consecutive Highlander errors to take a 22-18 lead, before the set ended on another Highlander error, allowing FGCU to go into the break leading 2-0 in the match with a 25-19 win. Kazarian posted six kills in the second game, while Rick tallied 10 assists to help out the offense.

The third set was again a back-and-forth affair following an early 9-7 lead for the Eagles. From there, both sides exchanged attacks as FGCU increased its lead to 14-11 only for the Highlanders to counter with a 4-1 run to tie the set at 15. NJIT would take a 20-18 lead in the third stanza, but the Eagles rallied with a 6-0 run capped by a Pudwill ace to take a 24-20 lead. FGCU won the set 25-21 on an attack error, completing the sweep and securing the No. 2 seed in the A-Sun Championships.

UP NEXT

The Eagles head to Nashville for the 2015 A-Sun Championships where they await the winner of the Kennesaw State and Stetson Friday (Nov. 20).

FOLLOW ALONG
 
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COACH BOTSFORD
 
Head coach Matt Botsford is in his second year at the helm of the FGCU volleyball program and his teams have combined for an overall 40-21 (.655) record, including a 21-7 (.750) mark in A-Sun play. In his inaugural season, the Eagles finished with a record of 19-11 with a second-place finish in the A-Sun. Botsford's team also had five players recognized as All-Conference honorees, to set a new program high. Prior to his time in Southwest Florida, Botsford held successful stints as an assistant at Notre Dame, Miami, IUPUI, 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.