DELAND, Fla. - FGCU dominates Stetson (29-27, 25-12, 25-10) Wednesday as Lily Felts broke the three-set match kill record.

With the ninth sweep of the season, the Eagles improved to 15-5 and 5-2 in the ASUN. Stetson fell to 12-7 and 3-4 in league play in the loss. FGCU also extended its current win streak over the Hatters out to 20 consecutive victories.

At 5-2 in the conference, FGCU is now fifth overall in the regular-season standings and one win back of 6-2 and tied-for-second Jacksonville State, Central Arkansas, Liberty and Lipscomb. Kennesaw State sits alone atop the ASUN at 14-4 and 7-1.

"I'm so proud of the team's response after we got down big in set one," head coach Matt Botsford said. "We challenged them to dig deeper and to play the style of volleyball we know we are capable of, and they turned things around decisively. Julianna and Rylen did a great job contributing to that momentum shift. Lily's performance was as good as I have seen during my time here, and she just keeps getting better week to week. Overall, our blocking and serving showed a lot of progress and that allowed Dana to make some great plays in the back row."

Felts continued to outdo herself of late by firing a career-high 27 kills to break the FGCU 3-set match kill record and the attacking percentage record. The Knoxville native hit .756 on the night with only one error. Felts' previous career high was 25 kills, which was set last Friday at Central Arkansas.

The Green and Blue started slow, trailing the Hatters 23-15 late in the opening set before FGCU used a 8-0 run to tie the first. Despite facing an extended four set points,  FGCU pulled out a 29-27 set-one win to complete the opening comeback.

The Eagles never looked back, outscoring the Hatters 64-26 the rest of the way. FGCU won sets two and three convincingly, 25-12 and 25-10.

Offensively, FGCU hit .630 in the second and a collective .304 percent for the match. Defensively, the Eagles held the Hatters to a flat .000 attacking percentage.

With seven kills on the night, Erin Shomaker (Granville, Ohio) moved into third all-time in program history for career kills (1,175) at FGCU.

Dana Axner (Dublin, Ohio) posted a team-leading 25 digs. Her 25-digs on the night marked the fifth-most for a three-set match in FGCU DI history. 

Emma Szypszak (Mequon, Wis.) tallied a team-leading six blocks up at the net. Setter Chelsey Lockey produced 38 assists, adding three blocks to move the Eaton, Colorado native into fifth all-time in career block assists (197). Only four Eagles have ever reached the 200 career block assist threshold.

Juliana Lentz (Miami, Fla.) returned to action Wednesday night after missing six matches due to an injury.

FGCU returns to Alico Arena this Friday and Saturday to host Queens University of Charlotte and Liberty. Both first serves are slated for a 6 p.m. start.

The Eagles hold the nation's longest active home match win streak with 21 consecutive home victories. Eagle Famliy, we need you to help continue to protect The Nest. Students, faculty and staff receive free admission with a valid Eagle I.D.

Friday's theme against Queens is a Pink Out. Donations will be accepted for gift card raffles as proceeds go to the American Cancer Society. Saturday's battle versus Liberty will be the Title IX/Women In Sports Night with special guest appearance by former Eagle Brooke Sweat.

Ninth-year coach Botsford is one win away from recording his 200th career win at FGCU.
 

EAGLES ON THE RISE

Place. Name (University and Years)	ASUN Career Digs
1. Shelley Walroth (Jacksonville: 2006-09)	2,456
2. Dana Axner (FGCU: 2018-	2,292
3. Ann Mullins (Lipscomb: 2005-07)	1,969
4. Nicole Baran (North Florida: 2009-12)	1,900
5. Adriana Nieto (NJIT: 2015-18)	1,878

 

Place. Name (Year)	FGCU Career Kills
1. Cortney VanLiew (2017-21)	1,657
2. Amanda Carroll (2015-19)	1,483
3. Erin Shomaker (2019-	1,175
4. Brooke Youngquist (2004-07)	1,173
5. Olivia Mesner (2011-14)	1,132

Place. Name (Year)	FGCU Career Assists
1. Maggie Rick (2015-18)	4,540
2. Gigi Meyer (2011-14)	4,408
3. Chelsey Lockey (2018-	4,246
4. Chandra Lefever (2006-07, 09)	3,108
5. Laura Manovill (2004-05)	1,809

 

Place. Name (Year)	FGCU Career Block Assists
1. Daniele Serrano (2016-19)	440
2. Olivia Mesner (2011-14)	280
3. Ashley Yance (2005-09)	242
4. Aja Jones (2019-21)	203
5. Chelsey Lockey (2018-	197

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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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 finished his eighth season as head coach of the FGCU women's volleyball program in 2021 after being hired on Feb. 10, 2014. In his tenure, Botsford-led teams have compiled a 199-64 (.757) record overall, including a 101-22 (.821) record in ASUN play. Including this past year's unprecedented spring season, he has taken the program to heights it has not seen in the Division-I era (2007-present) – registering at least 20 wins in six of the past seven seasons and at least 10 wins in conference play every season. 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. Now, the team has won four-straight regular season titles, including two ASUN Tournament Championship 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. In 2018, he also 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. In 2021, Botsford led the Eagles to 27 victories, tying the program record previously set in 2016, 2018 and 2019 seasons, and a NCAA First Round win over Texas Tech. The win over the Red Raiders marked the second NCAA First Round win for the Green and Blue following its 3-2 win over No. 13 UCF in Orlando in 2018.

#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 92 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11 seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 45 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn at at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 20, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as four 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 26 consecutive semesters. The past five semesters (Fall 2019 – Spring 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative 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.