JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --- The FGCU volleyball team (2-1, 0-1 ASUN) dropped a 21-25, 28-26, 23-25, 22-25 match on the road to North Florida (2-5, 1-0) Sunday afternoon to open conference play despite a career-high 21 kills from Erin Shomaker. Both teams will meet again on Monday at 2 p.m.

"It was a pretty disappointing performance, with much of it dictated by UNF's pressure from the service line and their defensive effort," FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. "We are playing way too high-error as a group and will have to find a way to correct that quickly. On the positive side, Kortney Reynolds was a nice boost off the bench, and Alayna Ryan was very consistent for us in the backrow."
 
Shomaker (Granville, Ohio/Granville HS) not only produced a career-high in kills over her 55 attempts, but the sophomore recorded her first career double-double behind 12 digs, while also adding two blocks and an ace. Cortney VanLiew added 17 kills offensively while chipping in six digs.
 
Chelsey Lockey also had a double-double for the Eagles with a team-high 39 assists and 10 digs. She also notched a team-best six blocks and finished tied for third in kills with six with Juliana Lentz, who also had three blocks. Defensively, Dana Axner finished with a team-high 19 digs along with five assists.
 
As a team, FGCU fell behind in several sets and just couldn't make enough runs to force a fifth set.
 
North Florida scored eight of the first 11 points to open the match. The Eagles rallied to tie it at 15 and then overcame a 6-1 run from UNF to pull within one twice late, but the hosts scored the final three points to win 25-21 and secure an early lead in the match.
 
Down 9-5 in the second set, a kill from Lockey (Eaton, Colo./Eaton HS) preceded three consecutive kills from VanLiew (Seymour, Ind./Columbus East HS) to knot things at nine. The Eagles continued to push forward, taking several three-point leads, but UNF knotted things at 23 apiece, which set up a back-and-forth finish until FGCU tied the match with three straight points to close the set. The go-ahead point came on a double-block from Lockey and Lentz (Miami, Fla./St. Brendan HS).
 
Any momentum the Eagles had to close the second set was snuffed out at the start of the third when the Ospreys scored five straight and seven of the first eight points in the third. FGCU managed to tie it a couple times and even took a pair of one-point leads late following kills from Lentz and Shomaker, but the hosts scored the final three points to take a 25-23 victory.
 
Unlike the previous sets, FGCU opened up a 7-4 lead in the fourth set behind a pair of kills from VanLiew. UNF bounced back to take a three-point lead, but four straight points from the Eagles gave them a 14-13 lead and set up a back-and-forth finish. The Ospreys took a 23-20 lead, and FGCU attempted to rally with back-to-back points behind a kill from Shomaker and a double-block from Lockey and Reynolds (Plain City, Ohio/Jonathan Alder HS), but the hosts closed out the win with back-to-back points of their own.
 
With her 19 digs, Axner (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman HS) pushed her career total to 1,261, which moves her past Amanda Carroll (1,247, 2015-19) for the third-most in the program's Division I era. Next up on the list is Holly Youngquist (1,652, 2008-11).
 
Meanwhile, VanLiew inched closer to 1,300 career kills as her 17 terminations gives her 1,274.
 
The Eagles are now 24-7 all-time against North Florida as Sunday's loss snapped a four-match winning streak against North Florida, who had also lost 10 of the past 12 to FGCU.
 
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.

E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
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 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 145-51 (.741) record overall, including a 71-18 (.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.
 
--FGCUATHLETICS.COM--