FORT MYERS, Fla. - The FGCU volleyball team (17-6, 9-1 ASUN) got a Division-I era program record 14 blocks, won its sixth straight match and clinched an ASUN tournament berth with a 25-17, 25-13, 25-13 win over Jacksonville (3-20, 2-9) in Alico Arena on Sunday.

"The thing that stood out to me most was first contact," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "We had that discussion Friday night when we didn't do a good job against UNF. Jacksonville is a really good serving team, and I thought we managed their service pressure really well. That was something we were looking for and opened things up for us offensively."

FGCU, who will be back in action on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Alico Arena against Florida International, joined Kennesaw State in becoming one of the first two teams to clinch an ASUN tournament berth with the win. A total of six teams will earn bids, and the Eagles are fighting for one of two quarterfinal round byes as well as a regular season championship.

As a team, the Green and Blue tallied 26 block assists along with one solo block from Daniele Serrano. That total is the most in the program's Division-I era for a three-set match, topping four previous 13 block finishes. The team total is also tied for the eighth-most in a match overall and this year's team now has four of the top 10 single-match block assists totals, including three this month alone. Sunday's performance is tied for fourth-best.

The effort defensively at the net was led by freshman middle blocker Tori Morris, who recorded nine block assists, which is one of the best performances in the Division-I era in two ways - second most in a match and tied for the most in a three-set match. Her overall block total is also the fifth-best.

Morris (Virginia Beach, Va./Floyd E. Kellam HS) previously tied the single-match solo block record with four on Aug. 24. Her 1.35 blocks per set this year would give her the second-best season in program history, just behind Serrano's (Sanford, Fla./Seminole HS) 1.36 this year. In fact, Sharonda Pickering's 1.17 blocks per set gives the 2018 squad the program's top three single season block averages.

"Tori was really good, especially on the blocking side of things," Botsford said. "I still think the setters need more time to develop time with her offensively. When it's good, it's really impressive. But she's got to build up her repertoire of shots when things aren't perfect, and that's what you would expect from a young player. (With that said), she's done a nice job these last couple of matches."

In the opening set, Pickering (Sea Cow's Bay, Tortola, British Virgin Islands/Elmore Stoutt HS) had four kills, while Dana Axner had seven of her team-high 15 digs. Pickering and Morris then added four block assists each in the second set, while Axner (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman HS) had six more digs. The final set featured six kills from Cortney VanLiew at a .429 clip. In fact, the team compiled a .467 percentage in the third while Morris tallied three more block assists.

Axner now has 383 career digs, which moves her up to 17th on the Division-I era list, just 11 shy of passing Roberta Santos, who had 393 from 2007-08. Her 4.79 digs per set is on pace to be the best single season in program history.

Pickering raised her Division-I era best season hitting percentage to .434 with her eight kill, zero error performance. Her .403 career percentage is the second-best in program history, one spot ahead of Serrano's .350.

VanLiew (Seymour, Ind./Columbus East HS), who pushed her streak of matches with at least 10 kills to 10 straight on the match's final point, now has 630 in her career and is 20 shy of passing Jelena Simic (2009-11) for eighth-most in the Division-I era. Her 4.03 kills per set is on pace for the third best single-season, and she is now one of just five players in the era with 300 or more kills in two separate seasons, joining Amanda Carroll (3), Olivia Mesner (2), Jill Hopper (2) and Jessica Barnes (2).

Snowy Burnam (Palm City, Fla./Jensen Beach HS), who finished second on the team with 11 digs while adding three kills and three block assists, moved into the top 20 in career attack attempts with 921.

Maggie Rick, who was honored prior to the match for becoming one of just two players in program history to eclipse 4,000 career assists along with Gigi Meyer (4,408, 2011-14), finished with 15 assists, second on the team behind Chelsey Lockey's 17. She is now 155 shy of eclipsing Meyer's record and played in her 120th match on Sunday, which puts her alone in fourth-place and seven shy of becoming the program's all-time leader.
 
Lockey (Eaton, Colo./Eaton HS), meanwhile, now has 313 assists this year, becoming just the 15th player in the program's Division-I era with 300 or more in a season. She closed the match in a strong fashion by recording eight assists in the final set.

Serrano, who had three block assists, now has 259 in her career, just 22 shy of becoming the program's Division-I era career leader. She needs 37 more total blocks to also pass Olivia Mesner (342, 2011-14) for the all-time record. Furthermore, her 91 block assists this year is tied with Lauren Tutwiler (2015) for the fourth-most in a season. She needs eight more to pass her own freshman year total and 11 more for the best single-season all-time. She's also 14 total blocks shy of the single-season mark held by Mesner.

NOTABLES
Seven different players tallied at least one block assist against Jacksonville, including Giovanna Borgiotti (Vienna, Va./George C. Marshall HS), who matched her season-high with four, and Kaitlan Krivdo (Hope Mills, N.C./Gray's Creek HS), who had one along with two kills. Alayna Ryan (Fort Myers, Fla./Fort Myers HS) also added an assist - her fourth of the season. Karissa Rhoades (Valrico, Fla./Bloomingdale Senior HS) was one of eight players to record at least one dig.
 
ASUN STANDINGS
1. Kennesaw State – 19-4, 10-0
2. FGCU – 17-6, 9-1
3. Lipscomb – 12-9, 7-2
4. Liberty – 10-13, 7-3
5. Stetson – 12-9, 4-5
6. North Florida – 8-18, 3-7
7. NJIT – 4-21, 2-8
8. Jacksonville – 3-20, 2-9
9. North Alabama – 2-16, 0-9

SUNDAY'S RESULTS
FGCU 3, Jacksonville 0
Liberty 3, North Florida 1
Kennesaw State 3, NJIT 0

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COACH BOTSFORD
Matt Botsford is in his fifth season as head coach of the FGCU women's volleyball program in 2018 after being hired on Feb. 10, 2014. In his four plus seasons, Botsford-led teams have compiled a 106-44 (.707) record overall, including a 51-15 (.773) record in ASUN play. He has taken the program to heights it has not seen in the Division-I era (2007-present) – registering at least 20 wins overall in three straight seasons and at least 10 wins in conference play four straight seasons. Furthermore, the team's offensive efficiency has drastically improved since Botsford started. In his first two seasons, his squad produced hitting percentages of .212 and .220. The past two, which have seen .267 and .256 percentages, are the third and fourth highest in program history. All four seasons under Botsford have seen a top-3 ASUN regular season finish and at least an ASUN semifinal appearance. His first two campaigns resulted in regular season runner-up finishes, and the past two have seen the Eagles advance to the tournament championship. On Sept. 10, 2016, Botsford led his team to a five-set win over Indiana in Alico Arena, which signified the program's first-ever win over a team from a Power-5 conference.
 
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