FORT MYERS, Fla. – Behind 13 kills from both Cortney VanLiew and Erin Shomaker, the FGCU volleyball team powered past North Florida, 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-16), in the semifinals of the ASUN Championship Tournament on Friday night in Alico Arena. The Eagles (25-5) will take on Jacksonville State (25-6) for the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament tomorrow night in the championship match at 7 PM.
 
Tickets for Saturday night's title match can be ordered online at www.FGCUTickets.com or at the Alico Arena Ticket Office. Fans can also call 866-FGCU-TIX to order ahead of time. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for military members, and $6 for youth.
 
The Eagles are making their sixth consecutive appearance in the ASUN title match. The preseason league favorites are looking to earn their second championship title since winning it all in 2018.
 
In Friday's semifinal win over North Florida (24-7), the third seed in the East Division, FGCU had perhaps its best overall performance of the season. The Eagles, the East Division's top seed, posted their 22^nd three-set win of the season thanks in part to the stellar play of VanLiew and Shomaker.
 
"That was a great performance all the way around from every player who got out there and found a way to contribute," said head coach Matt Botsford. "I thought defensively, against a great team like UNF, it was probably our best performance of the year when you consider the caliber of attackers on the other side of the net. Overall, just really pleased to get through tonight and back to the championship match."
 
Shomaker notched her fifth double-double of the season with 11 digs to go with her 13 kills. VanLiew hit .462 for the match with 13 kills and just one attack error while adding five digs and two aces. In the middle, Aja Jones and Emma Szypszak combined for seven blocks as part of a defensive effort that held the Ospreys to hitting just .037 for the match. Jones added seven kills, while Chelsey Lockey directed the attack with 31 assists to round out the top offensive performers. Dana Axner flew around the court to pick up 14 key digs throughout the match.
 
UNF was led by Dariana Hollingsworth-Santana who had six kills and Rocio Moro who posted 11 digs. The Ospreys posted 25 total kills, but committed 21 errors on the night.
 
Jacksonville State makes its first-ever appearance in the ASUN title match after picking up a 3-2 win over Kennesaw State, the East Division's No. 2 seed.
 
FGCU and JSU played once earlier this season during a crossover series hosted by Jacksonville. The Eagles won 3-0 (25-22, 29-27, 25-20) with five Eagles reaching double-figure kills. Lockey had 44 assists in the match which translated into Jones (11), VanLiew (10), Shomaker (10), English (10), and Juliana Lentz (10) all posting double-digit kills. FGCU hit .393 overall and held an 11-to-6 advantage in blocks.
 
Entering the week, FGCU was the top ASUN team in the NCAA RPI at No. 43 with UNF (76) just behind). The earlier semifinal match today featured the other top RPI teams in the league as Kennesaw State was No. 90 and Jacksonville State was No. 106. The Eagles also played three top-25 RPI teams in FSU (11), Miami (15), and UCF (24) while picking up a win over Georgia (87).
 
Most Career Kills

1.	1,631	Cortney VanLiew (.227)	2017-present
2.	1,483	Amanda Carroll (.259)	2015-19
3.	1,173	Brooke Youngquist Sweat (.245)	2004-07
4.	1,132	Olivia Mesner (.331)	2011-14
5.	961	Jessica Barnes (.194)	2010-14

 
Most Career Digs 

1.	1,965	Whitney Hendry (390 sets)	2004-07
2.	1,912	Dana Axner (380 sets)	2018-present
3.	1,687	Whitney Masters (483 sets)	2011-14
4.	1,652	Holly Youngquist (418 sets)	2008-11
5.	1,369	Brook Youngquist Sweat (346 sets)	2004-07

 
Most Career Assists 

1.	4,540	Maggie Rick (467 sets)	2015-18
2.	4,408	Gigi Myer (474 sets)	2011-14
3.	3,372	Chelsey Lockey (373 sets)	2018-present
4.	3,108	Chandra Lefever (309 sets)	2006-09
5.	1,809	Laura Monovill (186 sets)	2004-05

 
Most Career Total Blocks 

1.	483	Daniele Serrano (442 sets)	2016-19
2.	342	Olivia Mesner (428 sets)	2011-14
3.	287	Ashley Yance (313 sets)	2005-09
4.	247	Ericka Fonseca (216 sets)	2005-06
5.	208	Aja Jones (173 sets)	2019-present

 
 

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IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!

COACH BOTSFORD
Matt Botsford is in his eighth season as head coach of the FGCU women's volleyball program in 2021 after being hired on Feb. 10, 2014. In his tenure, Botsford-led teams have compiled a 182-58 (.782) record overall, including a 96-20 (.827) record in ASUN play. Including this past year's unprecedented spring 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 six of the past seven seasons and at least 10 wins in conference play every season. 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 three straight regular season titles, including a division title and ASUN tournament runner-up finish in the spring 2021 season. 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. In 2018, 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.
 
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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 85 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 42 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 21, 2020-21), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2021) 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 in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 24 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall, 2020 Spring, 2020 Fall, and 2021 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA in each. 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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