FORT MYERS, Fla. --- Kayla Whetstone moved into a tie for first place in career victories as the FGCU beach volleyball team (13-11) swept a pair of matches against Eckerd College (3-12) in the team's home finale at The ROC on Wednesday.
 
Whetstone (Arlington, Texas/Arlington Lamar HS), who was honored along with fellow senior Giovanna Borgiotti prior to the match, produced a pair of wins to move into a tie with Karissa Rhoades (61, 2016-19) for the program's all-time record. Meanwhile, Borgiotti (Vienna, Va./George C. Marshall HS) moved into a tie for third place with 57 wins after also picking up two triumphs.
 
"It was really great to finally be back playing (at home)," FGCU head coach Chris Sweat said. "I don't think we've played here in nearly two years. Seeing the girls train here every day and not get to have home games with two cancellations this year was tough, so it was nice to come out and get two wins against a quality team."
 
FGCU Career Wins

1.	61	Karissa Rhoades	2016-19	61-35	.635
	61	Kayla Whetstone	2018-present	61-22	.735
3.	57	Katie Puisis	2016-19	57-32	.640
	57	Giovanna Borgiotti	2017-present	57-47	.548
5.	50	Amanda Carroll	2016-19	50-42	.543

 
As a team, the Eagles did not drop a set over the two matches on Wednesday. The closest Eckerd came to extending a pair to a third set was at No. 5 in the second match as Jenna Banz (Cambridge, Ontario, Canada/St. Benedict Catholic Secondary/Hawaii) and Trinity Rosales (Wilmington, N.C./Eugene Ashley HS) picked up a 22-20 clinching win. Outside of that, no other pair scored more than 18 points in a set.
 
Another milestone was reached on Wednesday, as well, as Kirstine Garder moved into the top 10 in career victories with 31, surpassing Caroline Jordan (30, 2014-17). Emma Hansen (Trophy Club, Texas/Westlake Academy HS) also became just the 12th player in the program's history to reach 25 wins, while Kacie Johnson (Frisco, Texas/Lebanon Trail HS) is now two wins shy of eclipsing Garder's (Halden, Norway/Topvolley Norge) rookie wins record of 18 from two seasons ago as she moved to a team-best 17-7 alongside Whetstone at the No. 2 pair this year.
 
The doubleheader was also FGCU's first home event of the season, which allowed local product Lexie Hamilton (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS) a chance to play near her hometown for the first time after transferring to FGCU from UNCW in January. She is now 14-10 on the season alongside Maddison Parmelly (Rockwall, Texas/Rockwall Heath HS) at the No. 3 pair.
 
Madie Lichty (Clemmons, N.C./West Forsyth HS) pushed her win total to 13 on the season, which is the second-most victories among freshmen on the team behind Johnson.
 
FGCU will now travel to Jacksonville on Saturday and Sunday for the UNF Classic, where they will face UNF (twice), No. 19 Georgia State and Jacksonville. Following that is the ASUN Championship April 23-25.
 
FGCU 5, Eckerd 0
1. Giovanna Borgiotti/Kirstine Garder d. Serena Baumgart/Kitana Lim 21-7, 21-15
2. Kayla Whetstone/Kacie Johnson d. Izabela Gorys/Agata Sklepik 21-13, 21-11
3. Maddison Parmelly/Lexie Hamilton d. Manaia Rewi/Joelle Coulter 21-14, 21-13
4. Emma Hansen/Madie Lichty d. Anna Jungohann/Sam Crankshaw 21-9, 21-16
5. Jenna Banz/Trinity Rosales d. Dana Dull/Martina Melicherova 21-15, 21-18
 
FGCU 5, Eckerd 0
1. Giovanna Borgiotti/Kirstine Garder d. Serena Baumgart/Kitana Lim 21-12, 21-16
2. Kayla Whetstone/Kacie Johnson d. Izabela Gorys/Agata Sklepik 21-14, 21-18
3. Maddison Parmelly/Lexie Hamilton d. Anna Jungohann/Sam Crankshaw 21-18, 21-11
4. Emma Hansen/Madie Lichty d. Manaia Rewi/Joelle Coulter 21-15, 21-16
5. Jenna Banz/Trinity Rosales d. Dana Dull/Martina Melicherova 21-8, 22-20
 
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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 17-11 record to open his head coaching tenure.
 
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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 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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