FORT MYERS, Fla. - The top-seeded FGCU volleyball team (27-4) advanced to the ASUN tournament championship match for the fourth-consecutive season behind several big individual performances in a 25-23, 25-21, 21-25, 25-23 win over No. 4 Lipscomb (16-13) on Friday in Alico Arena.
 
With the win, the defending tournament champions tied the 2016 team for the most single-season wins in the program's Division I era. They'll advance to Saturday's 5 p.m. championship match against No. 2 Kennesaw State in what will be the third consecutive season the two teams have met for an NCAA Tournament berth, but it will be the first time FGCU has ever had a chance to win the title on its home court.

"In that fourth set, there was a few moments where I was wondering where that competitive spirit was," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "We got down four or five points and all it takes is one play. I think it was Tori that got a big block, and we felt the energy start to shift. More than that, the execution level improved. Our first contact was much better towards the second half of that final set, and it allowed us to do some things offensively. At that point, Lipscomb was really making it difficult for our hitters, so it was nice that we were able to get that."
 
Lipscomb fought off three straight set points in the first frame only to see the Eagles claim the early lead behind a kill from Daniele Serrano. After FGCU won the second set, the Bisons really made things interesting. First, they used a late 4-0 run to claim the third set. In the next frame, they led 13-8 and appeared to be on the way to forcing a winner-take-all set.
 
However, Erin Shomaker and Tori Morris teamed up for a block, Cortney VanLiew produced three kills and the Eagles knotted things up with a 6-1 run. Five more ties later, the Eagles got back-to-back points to take a 23-21 lead and closed the two-point win with a kill from Snowy Burnam.
 
Offensively, the duo of VanLiew (Seymour, Ind./Columbus East HS) and Shomaker (Granville, Ohio/Granville HS) evenly split 32 kills, while Morris (Virginia Beach, Va./Floyd E. Kellam HS) added 10. In fact, Morris added eight blocks (one shy of her career-high) and hit a team-best .450 over 20 attempts. She now has 27 blocks over the past five matches.
 
"Tori was outstanding," Botsford said. "We felt really good about the matchup, and I have felt really good about the way Tori has been playing the last few weeks in practice and in preparation. The set volume was upped, and she did a tremendous job with it. She was a really good decision maker and, in the fourth set, she made some huge plays for us at the net. I'm really happy for her. She works really hard, and she's an X factor for this team."
 
With her four blocks (one solo), Serrano (Sanford, Fla./Seminole HS) now has 476 in her career, which breaks the ASUN's all-time career record previously held by Meredith Hardy (ETSU, 474, 2010-13).
 
"It means a lot to me," Serrano said. "Before college, I wasn't much of a stats person. I never looked at the numbers. It wasn't a big deal. Once I got here, into my sophomore year, Matt (Botsford) made it kind of based around stats. If our numbers are good, we're doing good and we strive for certain numbers. So, to earn this title feels amazing. I take pride that I'm literally protecting my team when I'm blocking. It means a lot more than you would know. I honestly didn't know if I got it because I wasn't blocking great tonight, but I'm glad that I did."
 
Chelsey Lockey (Eaton, Colo./Eaton HS), who also had eight digs, produced a team-high 52 assists along with one ace and two blocks (one solo). Three others had eight digs apiece, including VanLiew, Amanda Carroll and Burnam (Palm City, Fla./Jensen Beach HS), who also had seven kills and five blocks.
 
With those seven kills, Burnam pushed her career total to 651, which moves her past Jelena Simic (649, 2009-11) for the ninth-most in the program's Division I era. In fact, that gives this year's team four of the top nine kill producers of the same era, joining Carroll (Albuquerque, N.M./Sandia HS), VanLiew and Serrano.
 
Defensively, Dana Axner (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman HS) had a match-high 33 digs, which established a new career-high for the sophomore libero in a four-set match and fell just five shy of tying the program's Division I era record for a match of the same length, which was set by Whitney Masters in 2013.

Notes
FGCU was previously 0-3 in ASUN tournament matches against Lipscomb.


 
COACH BOTSFORD
Matt Botsford is in his sixth season as head coach of the FGCU women's volleyball program in 2019 after being hired on Feb. 10, 2014. In his tenure, Botsford-led teams have compiled a 142-49 (.743) record overall, including a 71-17 (.807) record in ASUN play. Including this season, 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 five straight seasons and at least 10 wins in conference play six 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 next two, which saw .267 and .256 percentages, are the third and fourth highest in program history. In 2018, he led the program to its first regular season championship since 2012 (fourth overall) and its first-ever ASUN tournament title, NCAA tournament appearance, NCAA tournament win and victory over a ranked team. His first two campaigns resulted in ASUN regular season runner-up finishes, and the following two saw the Eagles advance to the tournament championship and now the team has won two straight regular season titles. 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. Last year, he led the team to a win over Miami (Fla.) - the program's first-ever road Power-5 win, and the Eagles followed that up with a straight-set win over the Hurricanes at a neutral site in 2019.
 
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April 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 raise awareness.
 
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 80 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 12 plus seasons at the Division-I level. Additionally, in just eight plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 36 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including both men's and women's soccer again in 2018. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.35 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2018 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for twenty consecutive semesters. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
 
--FGCUATHLETICS.COM--