TAMPA, Fla. - Cortney VanLiew registered a career-high 30 kills to lead the FGCU volleyball team to a thrilling come-from-behind 22-25, 25-27, 25-20, 25-21, 17-15 win over South Florida (2-1) in the season opener on Friday in The Corral on the campus of USF.
 
The win, which witnessed the Eagles come back from being down 13-10 in the final set, represented the first time FGCU has won a five-set match in which they were down 0-2 since knocking off Stetson on Oct. 25, 2014. Aja Jones had two kills and a block over the final three points to lead the Eagles to the win.
 
"That was a tough one," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "As you would expect with it being the first match, there is a lot to improve upon moving forward. The good news is that we got young players needed experience and gritted out a match where USF really disrupted a lot of what we wanted to do. I also thought our defensive subs (Alayna and Shelby) did a nice job too, both from the service line and in the passing rotations."
 
VanLiew (Seymour, Ind./Columbus East HS) broke her previous career-high of 29 that she set against West Virginia on Sept. 8 two seasons ago. She also notched her 21st career double-double by adding 12 digs, three blocks, one assist and one ace. Eight of her kills came in the match-tying fourth set, and she added four more in the clincher.
 
"Cortney was outstanding. and we needed every bit of it tonight," Botsford said. "She shouldered a big load as our overall offense wasn't very productive."
 
Offensively, FGCU hit .213 as a team, highlighted by a .625 (17 kills, 2 errors) performance in the third set. Tori Morris finished second on the team in kills with 12 while adding nine blocks, and Jones (Venice, Fla./Venice HS) chipped in eight kills, four blocks and four digs.
 
Chelsey Lockey tallied a career-high 55 assists along with six digs, a team-high three aces, three blocks and three kills. Defensively, Dana Axner (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman HS) registered a match-high 24 digs and tied Lockey for the team-high with three aces. In fact, it was Lockey's (Eaton, Colo./Eaton HS) fifth career 50-assist performance, topping her previous best of 54 that she set last year.
 
Juliana Lentz (Miami, Fla./St. Brendan HS), who was making her collegiate debut, made an impact down the stretch for the Eagles as she had six blocks, three kills and two digs. With FGCU down 13-11 in the final set, she teamed with Morris (Vienna Beach, Va./Floyd E. Kellam HS) on a block that pulled the Green and Blue within one, and then she staved off a match point for USF with a kill to tie things at 14 apiece.
 
Shelby Beisner (6) and Alayna Ryan (5) combined for 11 digs, while Hannah Rae Kivett and Emma Szypszak made their FGCU debuts. Szypszak (Mequon, Wis./Homestead HS) had three kills along with a block.
 
Up Next
The two teams will meet once more on Saturday at 4 p.m. to close out the weekend series.
 
For complete coverage of the volleyball program, follow the Eagles on Twitter at @FGCU_VB, on Instagram at @FGCU_VB, on Facebook at /FGCUVolleyball and online at FGCUathletics.com. You can also sign-up to have news on FGCU volleyball or other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.

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COACH BOTSFORD
Matt Botsford is in his seventh 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 144-50 (.741) record overall, including a 71-17 (.807) record in ASUN play. Including 2019, 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 82 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 13 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 38 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women's basketball (No. 24, 2019-20) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. 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 (APR) in their sport and have had the highest percentage of teams so honored from these two groups over each of the past three years. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.46 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 22 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall and 2020 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA. 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.
 
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