FORT MYERS, Fla. --- The No. 20 FGCU beach volleyball team (11-11) will host Eckerd College in a doubleheader at The ROC on Wednesday at 11 a.m. Prior to the first match,
Giovanna Borgiotti and
Kayla Whetstone will be honored as part of senior day. Admission will be free to the event although fans will be required to wear masks and follow CDC guidelines.
Not only will
Borgiotti (Vienna, Va./George C. Marshall HS) and
Whetstone (Arlington, Texas/Arlington Lamar HS) be honored, they will both be chasing history on Wednesday. With a pair of wins, Whetstone can move into a tie with Karissa Rhoades (61, 2016-19) for the most wins in program history, while Borgiotti can move into a tie for third place with Katie Puisis (57, 2016-19) should she also win twice.
FGCU Career Wins
| 1. |
61 |
Karissa Rhoades |
2016-19 |
61-35 |
.635 |
| 2. |
59 |
Kayla Whetstone |
2018-present |
59-22 |
.728 |
| 3. |
57 |
Katie Puisis |
2016-19 |
57-32 |
.640 |
| 4. |
55 |
Giovanna Borgiotti |
2017-present |
55-47 |
.539 |
| 5. |
50 |
Amanda Carroll |
2016-19 |
50-42 |
.543 |
Along with her partner at No. 2,
Kacie Johnson, Whetstone has won a team-high 15 matches this year.
Johnson (Frisco, Texas/Lebanon Trail HS), meanwhile, is looking to break the program's rookie wins record of 18, which she can do with four more victories.
The No. 3 pair of
Lexie Hamilton (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) and
Maddison Parmelly (Rockwall, Texas/Rockwall Heath HS) are currently second on the team in wins with 12 each, including 11 together, while
Emma Hansen (Trophy Club, Texas/Westlake Academy) and
Madie Lichty (Clemmons, N.C./West Forsyth HS) are 10-10 at the No. 4 pair with each of them securing 11 wins individually.
The Eagles are 7-1 all-time against Eckerd College, including a 4-1 win on March 6. This past weekend, FGCU led Eckerd 2-0 at the Battle on the Bay in St. Petersburg and were just a few points shy of clinching the win before heavy rain and lightning canceled the match and the rest of the event.
Wednesday's match will serve as both the home opener and the home finale for FGCU, which will travel to Jacksonville on Saturday and Sunday for the UNF Classic, where they will face UNF, Georgia State and Jacksonville. Following that is the ASUN Championship April 23-25.
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COACH SWEAT
Chris Sweat is in his second season as head coach of the FGCU beach volleyball program after spending the prior five seasons as an assistant coach. A member of VolleyballMag.com's Under 40 Coaching Hotshots list in January 2020, he led the Eagles to a 4-0 start in 2020 prior to the Covid-19 shutdown and has compiled a 14-10 record to open his head coaching tenure.
#FEEDFGCU
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ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 85 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 40 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 23 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall, 2020 Spring, and 2020 Fall 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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