FORT MYERS, Fla. - Cortney VanLiew's big day propelled the FGCU volleyball team (20-6, 11-1 ASUN) into a share of first place in the ASUN standings with a 25-14, 25-11, 25-17 win over NJIT (4-23, 2-10) on Sunday afternoon in Alico Arena.

With the win, the Green and Blue moves into a tie for first place with Kennesaw State (20-5, 11-1) with four matches left in the regular season. Lipscomb (10-2) and Liberty (9-3) are also still in the race, and those four teams all play each other over the season's final stretch.

"Cortney was really good, especially at the end," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "She was making some good decisions. She was relying a little bit too much on the scouting report in the first set instead of allowing her athleticism to take over. I think she loosened up a little and just let herself play as we got into sets two and three, so that was nice to see."

VanLiew (Seymour, Ind./Columbus East HS) finished with a match-high 15 kills, 10 digs, two block assists, one ace and one assist - all while hitting .556. It was her second straight double-digit dig performance and the 10th double-double of her season. In fact, she had just six fewer kills than NJIT did as an entire team.

In the opening set, Daniele Serrano opened the match with a kill and then teamed up with VanLiew for a block that doubled up NJIT at 12-6. VanLiew later closed the set with back-to-back kills off assists from Maggie Rick and Chelsey Lockey.

VanLiew and Sharonda Pickering (Sea Cow's Bay, Tortola, British Virgin Islands/Elmore Stoutt HS) each had kills in a 4-0 run to open the next set as FGCU eventually opened up a 15-3 lead. Toward the end of that run, Tori Morris, Snowy Burnam and Lockey (Eaton, Colo./Eaton HS) got back-back-to-back kills. The Highlanders trimmed their deficit to as few as nine, but the Eagles closed the set with five straight points, capped by another setter kill from Rick (Alpharetta, Ga./Blessed Trinity Catholic HS).

In the third, back-to-back kills from VanLiew gave FGCU an 11-6 lead, but NJIT went on a 9-2 run to take a two-point advantage. Burnam (Palm City, Fla./Jensen Beach HS) ended the momentum with a kill off a dish from Rick as the Green and Blue scored seven of the next eight and the final five points to close out yet another straight set win.

With the result, FGCU has now won nine straight and 14 of 15 overall, which also includes a 19-set streak. They are three shy of matching last year's 22-set winning streak, which is the second longest in the program's Division-I era behind the 2007 team's 30-setter.
 
Rick (23) and Lockey (10) combined for 33 of the team's 35 assists, while Karissa Rhoades (Valrico, Fla./Bloomingdale Senior HS) had three of the team's seven aces. Dana Axner, who finished second on the team with two aces, led the way with 15 digs. In addition to her and VanLiew, Burnam also aided the floor defense with 13 digs. The trio combined for 38 of the team's 47 digs.

At the net, FGCU produced 14 block assists, led by four from Morris (Virginia Beach, Va./Floyd E. Kellam HS) and two apiece from VanLiew, Burnam, Serrano (Sanford, Fla./Seminole HS) and Giovanna Borgiotti (Vienna, Va./George C. Marshall HS), who also had four kills and a dig. Burnam finished third on the team in kills with six, while Morris had five.

CHASING RECORDS
Rick now has 4,324 career assists, which is 85 shy of passing Gigi Meyer's (4,408, 2011-14) program record. She needs to average 21.25 over the final four matches to break it during the regular season, although the postseason totals will also count should she need it.

VanLiew moved past Jelena Simic (649, 2009-11) for the eighth-most kills in the program's Division-I era with her Sunday performance. She now has 662 and is 17 short of passing Ana Kokanovic (678, 2007-08) for seventh. Only five players have reached 700 kills in the Division-I era - Amanda Carroll (Albuquerque, N.M./Sandia HS), Olivia Mesner, Jessica Barnes, Kaitlin Holm and Jill Hopper.

Serrano now has 269 career block assists, which puts her on pace to break Mesner's Division-I era program record (280, 2011-14) in the next week potentially.

Axner (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman HS) pushed her season dig total to 438 over 89 sets. She is 22 short of eclipsing Holly Youngquist (459, 2009) for the sixth-most in a Division-I era season and is attempting to become just the third player in the program to achieve 500 digs in a similar season. Furthermore, her 4.92 digs per set this year ranks as the best season in the era.

NOTES
The Green and Blue, who entered the match tied with Nebraska for the best opponent hitting percentage in the country, held NJIT to a -.020 clip over 99 attempts. Furthermore, FGCU entered the match ranked within the nation's top 10 in total blocks (5th, 239.0) and blocks per set (7th, 2.88).

FGCU has now won at least 20 matches overall in four straight seasons along with five straight years of 10 or more conference victories. Both are Division-I era program-best streaks.

The Eagles are now 8-0 all-time against NJIT and have never lost a set.

Prior to the game, the FGCU volleyball program honored outstanding faculty and staff who have impacted the student-athletes on the team. Those recognized included: Kristine Tullo, Carol Sweeney, Kathy Peterson, Storm Blitz, Dr. Jiehong Liao, Dr. Mary Wisnom, Dr. Lewis Broslovsky, Paul Evans, Dr. Derrick Boucher, Dr. Ashley Kuhn, Matthew Neubek, Danny Mahy, Carly Jaskulski and Reid Lennertz.
 
ASUN STANDINGS
1. Kennesaw State – 20-5, 11-1
2. FGCU – 20-6, 11-1
3. Lipscomb – 15-9, 10-2
4. Liberty – 13-13, 9-3
5. Stetson – 13-10, 5-6
6. North Florida – 9-20, 4-9
T-7. NJIT – 4-23, 2-10
T-7. Jacksonville – 3-21, 2-10
9. North Alabama – 2-19, 0-12

ASUN RESULTS
Friday
Kennesaw State 3, North Florida 0
FGCU 3, North Alabama 0
Liberty 3, NJIT 0
Lipscomb 3, Stetson 0
Saturday
Stetson 3, Kennesaw State 0
Lipscomb 3, North Florida 1
Sunday
FGCU 3, NJIT 0
Liberty 3, North Alabama 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 109-44 (.712) record overall, including a 53-15 (.779) 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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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.