DELAND, Fla. - Erin Shomaker and Aja Jones combined for 24 kills, while Juliana Lentz and Alayna Ryan also played key roles as the FGCU volleyball team (4-1, 2-1 ASUN) swept Stetson (1-1, 0-1) 25-13, 25-17, 25-16 on the road inside the Edmunds Center Saturday afternoon.
 
The Eagles were without head coach Matt Botsford, who missed the game due to Covid-19 protocols. Assistant coach Kate Morrell took his place. FGCU will close out the weekend series Sunday at 3 p.m.
 
"Today's win showed a team-wide level of competition and commitment to what we are striving to achieve," Morrell said. "Aja and Juliana both executed well offensively. Alayna served and got us on point runs in all three sets. Overall, I was very pleased with the team's focus on attention to detail and clean touches on our side of the net, which clearly showed."
 
Shomaker (Granville, Ohio/Granville HS) led all players with 13 kills while adding eight digs and two blocks. Jones (Venice, Fla./Venice HS) added 11 kills, three digs and three blocks as the Eagles hit a season-best .345 as a team with 51 kills over 116 attempts. Cortney VanLiew (8) and Lentz (7) also combined for 15 kills.
 
Directing the offense was Chelsey Lockey (Eaton, Colo./Eaton HS), who had 38 of the team's 44 assists for her fifth-straight 30-assist performance to open the season. She also finished fifth on the team with five kills while adding an ace, a dig and a block. Defensively, Dana Axner had 16 digs and two assists.
 
While Axner and Shomaker finished 1-2 on the team in digs, VanLiew added seven. The duo of Shelby Beisner (Port Charlotte, Fla./Charlotte HS) and Kortney Reynolds (Plain City, Ohio/Jonathan Alder HS) each had five, as well.
 
Ryan (Fort Myers, Fla./Fort Myers HS), who served the Eagles to a 10-0 run to close out a first-set victory, finished with three digs and two aces, including set point in the first.
 
With the first set tied at seven apiece, FGCU went on a 4-0 run highlighted by kills from VanLiew and Lockey. A short time later, with Stetson down just two, the Eagles scored 10 consecutive points to take the opening set. Lockey had three kills and a block during the run, while Ryan served out the final nine points.
 
In the ensuing set, FGCU scored four of five points to take a 12-8 lead after a back-and-forth start. With the lead at four once again, the Eagles went on a 4-0 run to open up a 22-14 lead that saw kills from Shomaker, VanLiew and Lentz (Miami, Fla./St. Brendan HS). Emma Szypszak (Mequon, Wis./Mequon HS) closed the 25-17 win with a right-side kill.
 
The Green and Blue scored six of the first eight points in the final set, a run capped by a block and a kill from Jones. Although Stetson tied it at seven apiece, the Eagles never lost the lead.

Following a kill from Stetson's Elena Djokovic that brought her team within two, Jones had back-to-back kills while totaling five terminations in a 7-0 run that saw FGCU take a 22-13 lead. VanLiew (Seymour, Ind./Columbus East HS) then closed it with a pair of kills late, including the match-winner.
 
FGCU improved to 24-2 all-time against Stetson, which includes 14 straight victories dating back to Nov. 21, 2013. The Eagles are also 12-1 on the road in the series.

Notes
With her eight kills, VanLiew is now just two shy of reaching 1,300 in her career as only Amanda Carroll (1,483, 2015-19) sits between her and the program's all-time career record. On top of that, she pushed her career kill total in the ASUN up to 581, which is 27 shy of eclipsing Olivia Mesner's (607, 2011-14) program record.
 
In terms of ASUN play, Axner (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman HS) eclipsed 600 career digs against conference competition as she now also sits near a milestone. The junior libero also needs just nine more digs to reach 1,300 in her career at 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 147-51 (.741) record overall, including a 73-18 (.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--