DELAND, Fla. - The FGCU beach volleyball team (9-6, 4-0), off to the second best conference start in program history, will battle No. 17 Stetson (18-6, 4-0) on Wednesday at 2 p.m. in a doubleheader at Cooper Beach with first place on the line.

Both teams sit just ahead of North Florida (2-0) in the ASUN standings. The Eagles, who have won four straight, are looking to set a new program standard for best start in conference play with last year's team (5-0) standing in the way. Meanwhile, the Hatters will enter Wednesday's tilt with a seven-match streak.

For FGCU, the team's No. 1 through No. 4 pairs have each won four straight, led by the top pair of Amanda Carroll (Albuquerque, N.M./Sandia HS) and Mackenzie Allen (Naples, Fla./Gulf Coast HS), who have nearly pushed its season record to .500 (7-8). Three of their four wins in last weekend's conference quad against Coastal Carolina and Mercer were hard-fought, three-set victories. The duo has now won 25 career matches at the No. 1 or No. 2 pairings dating back to 2016.

"Amanda and Mac are starting to find their stride, and I really like the way they are responding to each opponent's style of play," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "They are finding ways to win against good competition and complementing one another on the court. They have made great strides over the past couple of weeks from a defensive perspective and it is showing in the results."

NOTES
Stetson has dominated the series history, which dates back to 2012. In fact, the two programs met in FGCU's first-ever match on March 17, 2012, which resulted in a 5-0 win for the Hatters. Later that same month, the Eagles picked up 4-1 and 3-2 victories. Since then, however, Stetson has won 15 straight including four last season. On top of all that, the Hatters have won the past three ASUN regular season titles with a 29-1 record.

Botsford has now led the Green and Blue to wins in 12 of the team's past 17 conference matches dating back to March 25, 2016.

With each of their victories last weekend, the duo of Katherine Puisis (Mason, Ohio/William Mason HS) and Karissa Rhoades (Valrico, Fla./Bloomingdale Senior HS) is a team-best 11-4, while Kayla Whetstone (Arlington, Texas/Arlington Lamar HS) and Snowy Burnam (Palm City, Fla./Jensen Beach HS) are close behind at 10-5. Giovanna Borgiotti (Vienna, Va./George C. Marshall HS) and Ashley Glickert (Chesterfield, Mo./Parkway Central HS) are tied with Allen/Carroll for the third-best record at 7-8.

FOLLOW ALONG
For up-to-the minute information and a behind-the-scenes look at the FGCU volleyball program, follow on Twitter at @FGCU_BeachVB, on Facebook at /FGCUVolleyball and on Instagram at @FGCU_VB.

COACH BOTSFORD
Head coach Matt Botsford, who is also the head coach of the FGCU indoor volleyball program, is in his fifth season at the helm of the FGCU beach volleyball program in 2018. In his tenure, the team has compiled a 39-52 record, and he's improved the team's win total each season. In fact, he led the program to 11 wins in 2016 and 15 in 2017 - both of which were new records for most wins in a season. The beach volleyball program is entering just its seventh year at FGCU and has an overall record of 44-61. 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. A former professional volleyball player, he is a 1998 graduate of Tri-State University (now Trine), where he earned a degree in Social Studies Education. He earned a master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Indianapolis.

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 make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help.