DELAND, Fla. --- Five players produced at least eight kills as the FGCU volleyball team (5-1, 3-1 ASUN) won its third-straight match in straight-set fashion with a 25-23, 25-23, 25-15 win over Stetson on the road inside the Edmunds Center Sunday.
 
"We didn't respond as quickly as I would have liked to Stetson's adjustments," FGCU assistant coach Kate Morrell said. "Blocking is a strength of our squad that I felt was under-executed. Despite that, our offense continues to gel and the connection with our setters and middles is becoming very effective. Chelsey did a great job of distributing the ball, which allowed us to see a lot of one-on-ones. It has been another good weekend for the girls, and I can tell they are eager to get back to work."
 
The Eagles closed out two very close sets to open the match behind .341 and .308 team hitting percentages. In the opener, Erin Shomaker and Aja Jones teamed up for the set-winning block after Stetson rallied to pull within one late. Shomaker than teamed with Cortney VanLiew for back-to-back kills to conclude the second set after Stetson knotted it at 23 apiece.
 
Then, in the final set, Aja Jones set the tone early with a pair of kills and a block to give FGCU a 5-2 lead. A solo block from Lentz (Miami, Fla./St. Brendan HS) made it 10-6 and the Eagles closed the match with five straight points behind a pair of kills from Emma Szypszak.
 
VanLiew and Shomaker each had a team-high 10 kills. Szypszak (Mequon, Wis./Homestead HS) and Jones (Venice, Fla./Venice HS) each added nine, while Lentz totaled eight. Those five produced 46 of FGCU's 47 kills.
 
For Shomaker (Granville, Ohio/Granville HS), she finished off her third double-double over five matches, as well as her fourth match with at least 10 kills. She's averaging 13.2 kills and 10.2 digs this year. VanLiew (Seymour, Ind./Columbus East HS), meanwhile, eclipsed 1,300 career kills and 800 career digs on Sunday as she fell just two digs shy of a double-double.  
 
Chelsey Lockey (Eaton, Colo./Eaton HS) totaled a match-high 41 assists along with five digs, and fellow junior Dana Axner (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman HS) had a team-high 19 digs along with four assists as she eclipsed 1,300 career digs.
 
Southwest Florida native Alayna Ryan (Fort Myers, Fla./Fort Myers HS) added six digs.
 
The Green and Blue will open the home portion of their conference schedule Friday against Jacksonville at 7 p.m. Prior to the match, the program will honor last year's team with the unveiling of their ASUN regular season championship banner. The series concludes Saturday at 6 p.m.
 
Notes
 
FGCU was coached for the second straight day by Morrell, who was filling in for head coach Matt Botsford, who missed the weekend series due to Covid-19 protocols.
 
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 148-51 (.741) record overall, including a 74-18 (.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.
 
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ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 83 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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