FORT MYERS, Fla. - Dana Axner nearly broke her own program record for most digs in a three-set match before finishing with 26 as the FGCU volleyball team (18-6) swept FIU (14-8) 25-19, 25-12, 25-15 in a non-conference matchup at Alico Arena on Tuesday. The Eagles have now won seven straight and 12 of the past 13.

"I think FIU looked much improved," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "We knew we were going to be in for a challenge. I thought the team stepped up, especially with the way we were blocking, and our floor defense was great. We had some moments offensively, a couple of stretch runs that I wish we could have controlled a little bit better, but I think that was more a function of some of the serving strategies that FIU was using."

Axner (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman HS), who had a Division-I era program record 28 digs in a straight-set victory over Stetson on Oct. 9, nearly reached that mark again, but settled for 26, which tied her for the second most in such a match.

Axner, who had nine digs in the opening set before 10 and seven, respectively, in the final two, added one ace and one assist. She became just the fifth player in the program's Division-I era with at least 400 digs in a season (409), which puts her eighth on the single-season list, just 13 shy of passing Whitney Masters, who had 421 in 2012. Furthermore, her total this year alone has her 15th in career digs.

"Dana was great defensively," Botsford said. "We had a couple of conversations early on, like you're digging everything, but there's a couple other things that you need to do out there for us. She's such a competitive kid that she wants to do everything perfectly, and I can appreciate that. I'm very lucky to have that. The first set there was a couple assignments she missed, which doesn't happen often and didn't happen after that, so she quickly corrected it and played great."

Offensively, Snowy Burnam paced the team with a match-high 12 kills on zero errors at a .414 clip, while Cortney VanLiew (nine kills) and Daniele Serrano (six kills, .417) also contributed. The Green and Blue hit .350 as a team. Maggie Rick (21) and Chelsey Lockey (11) combined for 32 of the team's 39 assists, while VanLiew (Seymour, Ind./Columbus East HS) added a career-high four. A pair of middle blockers, Sharonda Pickering and Tori Morris, each also contributed an assist apiece.

VanLiew and Burnam (Palm City, Fla./Jensen Beach HS) split the team's two solo blocks, while Serrano (Sanford, Fla./Seminole HS) had a match-high six block assists, which actually matched FIU's entire team total in that category. Pickering (Sea Cow's Bay, Tortola, British Virgin Islands/Elmore Stoutt HS) and Morris (Virginia Beach, Va./Floyd E. Kellam HS) had five apiece, while Giovanna Borgiotti (Vienna, Va./George C. Marshall HS) had four.

In addition to Axner's total, VanLiew added nine digs, while Burnam had seven. Rick (Alpharetta, Ga./Blessed Trinity Catholic HS) and Lockey (Eaton, Colo/Eaton HS) also had six and five, respectively.

FGCU's 22 block assists represented the sixth time this year the team has produced at least that many. Five of those instances have come this month alone. The .350 hitting percentage was the team's fifth highest in a match this year, and their six attack errors is the fewest so far this year.

RECORD UPDATES
Rick now has 4,275 career assists, which is 134 shy of eclipsing Gigi Meyer's (4,408, 2011-14) program record. With six regular season matches remaining, she would need to average 22.33 per contest to break the record, although she could potentially break it in the postseason.

Serrano's 97 block assists this year now gives her the second (98, 2016) and third most in a season. She needs just five more to become the program's all-time single-season leader. Her 111 total blocks has tied Ashley Yance's 2009 total - in 32 fewer sets played - and sits just eight shy of moving past Yance for another record. The junior is also 16 block assists and 31 total blocks shy of Olivia Mesner's career records in those categories, too.

VanLiew now needs 11 more kills to surpass Jelena Simic (649, 2009-11) for the eighth-most career kills in the Division-I era. She needs 44 more to produce a top-10 single season in the era. She has a chance to become one of just four players with 400 or more kills in a season since 2007. The others include Amanda Carroll (2015, 2016, 2017), Eleonora Kazarian (2014) and Ana Kokanovic (2008).

NEXT UP
The Green and Blue will resume conference play this weekend. On Friday, they'll square off against North Alabama at 6 p.m. before hosting NJIT on Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
ASUN STANDINGS
1. Kennesaw State – 19-4, 10-0
2. FGCU – 18-6, 9-1
3. Lipscomb – 13-9, 8-2
4. Liberty – 11-13, 7-3
5. Stetson – 12-9, 4-5
6. North Florida – 9-18, 4-7
7. NJIT – 4-21, 2-8
8. Jacksonville – 3-21, 2-10
9. North Alabama – 2-17, 0-10

Tuesday's Results
Liberty 3, Maryland Eastern Shore 1
North Florida 3, Jacksonville 0
FGCU 3, FIU 0
Lipscomb 3, North Alabama 1

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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 107-44 (.709) 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.
 
SUPPORT THE CAUSE
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to contribute, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help.