FORT MYERS, Fla. - FGCU Volleyball won its third straight ASUN match with a 3-0 sweep of Stetson (25-15, 25-12, 25-18) on Tuesday.

FGCU clinched a spot in the upcoming ASUN Tournament (Nov. 17-19) in Nashville, Tennessee with the win. The Eagles improved to 19-6 overall and 9-3 in the ASUN. FGCU expanded its winning streak over the Hatters out to 21 consecutive victories, now including nine straight sweeps.

The Green and Blue moved into a four-way tie for second place in the ASUN regular season conference standings on Tuesday alongside Kennesaw State, Central Arkansas and Lipscomb. The Eagles have beaten all three of the ASUN foes listed this season.

"Great match on both sides of the ball tonight," head coach Matt Botsford said. "I thought Chelsey set really well, the passers were in a nice rhythm, and our hitters were very clever with the ball. It was nice to see Destiny (Nelson) get her first collegiate match experience, along with her first career kill after what has been a long road recovering from injury. She has been working really hard and continues to develop each week."

FGCU hit a combined .410 percent for the match, outshining the Hatters in almost every facet especially in kills. The Eagles posted 30 more kills than Stetson (55-25).

Three Eagles reached double-figures in the kill category, Lily Felts (14), Erin Shomaker (14) and Lauren Clark (11). All three Eagles held a .310 or higher attacking percent for the night. Clark led the trio with a hitting .476 percent on 21 swings.

Chelsey Lockey (Eaton, Colorado) and Felts (Knoxville, Tenn.) both posted double-double efforts on Tuesday, the 11th double-double of the season for Lockey and the fourth for Felts. Lockey tallied 41 assists and added 11 digs in the defensive effort. Lockey's 41 assist night marked the 14th match of the season with 40-or-more assists to her name.

Felts scored 10 digs to go along with her team-leading 14 kills. Defensively, Dana Axner recorded a team-leading 14 digs.

Stetson jumped out to a 7-4 lead in the opening set, but FGCU awoke for a 15-3 run. Before the Hatters knew it, FGCU held a 19-10 advantage in a quick turnaround. FGCU secured the opening set 25-15.

The Green and Blue never surrendered the lead in set two as the Hatters, capping off on a 8-2 run to take a 2-0 match lead.

The third set witnessed more of an even battle as Stetson would hold a 16-15 lead late in the set. However, FGCU answered with another run, this time a 10-2 run to win 25-18 and clinch the match.

FGCU returns to Alico Arena once more this Friday and Saturday to host both Eastern Kentucky and Bellarmine. Friday's match verus Eastern Kentucky will begin at 7 p.m. while Senior Night Saturday versus Bellarmine has been moved up to a 6 p.m. official start time.

EAGLES ON THE RISE

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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 203-65 (.757) record overall, including a 105-23 (.820) 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.