FORT MYERS, Fla. - Second-seeded FGCU volleyball opens the ASUN Championship on Thursday morning with a quarterfinal matchup against No. 7 seed North Florida in Nashville, Tennessee.

Thursday's battle against the Ospreys will be the third meeting between the two programs this season. FGCU split the first two matchups, losing the ASUN opener in a five-set battle and then sweeping North Florida this past Sunday in the regular season finale. Thursday's quarterfinal match will air on ESPN+ beginning at 11 a.m. (ET).

FGCU has reached the ASUN Tournament final in each of the last six seasons, punching their ticket to the Dig Dance in 2018 and 2021. The Eagles are 16-10 all-time in the ASUN Tournament.

The Green and Blue finished the regular-season 23-6 overall and 13-3 in the ASUN, while North Florida closed 12-16 and 9-7 in league play. FGCU has won 20-plus matches for the seventh straight season, excluding the 2020 COVID year.

The winner of the FGCU/North Florida quarterfinal match will face the winner of the No. 3 Jacksonville State and No. 6 Kennesaw State contest in the semifinal round. The Eagles posted 3-1 wins over both the Gamecocks and the Owls earlier this season.

2022 ASUN PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Lily Felts (Knoxville, Tenn.) was named ASUN Player of the Year on Wednesday. Her honor marked the seventh time and the sixth consecutive season that FGCU has been home to the league's Player of the Year.

This season, Felts is second on the team in total kills with 307. After a 1,000 kill career as a Tennessee Volunteer, she has settled in as another explosive outside option by producing 19 matches of 10-more-kills. In fact, Felts broke FGCU's three-set match kill record with season-best and career high of 27 in a win over Stetson. Felts has also produced five double-double efforts helping lift FGCU its 23 wins, one Power Five victory over Maryland and the No. 2 overall seed. Of the 23 wins, 15 have been clean sweeps.

She is hitting .269 percent and averaging 3.78 kills per set. Felts  is second on the team from the service line with 31 aces and earned ASUN Player of the Week distinction once this season.

2022 ASUN ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
A total of Five Eagles earned ASUN Postseason honors as Erin Shomaker (Granville, Ohio) and Chelsey Lockey (Eaton, Colo.) joined Felts and her unanimous selection to the ASUN First Team All-Conference squad. Lockey is now a four-time selection to the all-conference teams, her third first team honor of her career. Shomaker has made the list three times, all first team awards.

Wednesday's announcement marked the 27th first team recipient in program history and the 20th under ninth-year head coach Matt Botsford.

Dana Axner (Dublin, Ohio) was named to the second team and Lauren Clark (Champlin, Minn.) earned third team recognition to round out the postseason awards for FGCU. Axner is a five-time ASUN selection throughout her career in the Green and Blue, while Clark's postseason award was the first of her career.

ASUN ALL-TIME DIGS LEADER IN SIGHT
Axner, the fifth-year senior, is just 24 digs away from becoming the ASUN's all-time career digs leader, and became FGCU's all-time leader earlier in the season.

Axner has been key in helping the Eagles boast one of the nation's lowest opponent hitting percentages, No. 24 at 164 percent. Axner continues to be a force in the back row with 475 digs toward the Eagle cause this season, placing fourth in the ASUN and 52nd nationally.

She has produced 20-or-more digs in eight matches this year with a season high of 33 at Central Arkansas.

EAGLES ON THE RISE

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.

E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
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 207-65 (.790) record overall, including a 109-23 (.826) 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 seven of the past eight seasons (excluding COVID 2020) 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 (https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/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 https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness. 

ABOUT FGCU 
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 93 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 46 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn an 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 & 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 six 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.