NASHVILLE, Tenn. - FGCU Volleyball swept seventh-seeded North Florida (25-18, 25-20, 25-20) on Thursday to advance to the ASUN Tournament semifinal round.

The Eagles, winners of their last eight matches, improved to 24-6 overall in the quarterfinal victory over the Ospreys. FGCU has now also posted five consecutive sweeps in its longest win streak of the season. North Florida's 2022 campaign came close at 12-17.

Second-seeded FGCU will now face No. 6 Kennesaw State in Friday's semifinal matchup beginning at 5 p.m. (ET). Tomorrow's match will air on ESPN+ as the Eagles look to advance to the ASUN Championship Final for the seventh-straight season.

Kennesaw State upset No. 3 Jacksonville State in a five-set battle during the afternoon slate.

"I was really pleased with the execution level," head coach Matt Botsford said. "Our first contact and our serving really dictated a lot of what was happening out there. Our blocking was really organized and we had talked a lot about that leading up to this match. Just overall, the total team play was exceptional and exactly what we needed to get through the round. Right now, the girls are confident. It's nice not to be super reliant on one person, so we are going to have to continue to do just that to advance through the event."

FGCU brought the energy early despite a 10 a.m. first serve and obtained a 12-5 lead in the opening set as Eagles capped the first with a 25-18 win. North Florida remained within striking distance during most of the second set trailing 15-12, but FGCU's late 12-2 run propelled the Green and Blue to a 2-0 match lead.

In the third, FGCU found itself trailing UNF early, 7-5, as the Ospreys fought to keep their season alive. FGCUregained the lead, 13-12, courtesy of a Juliana Lentz (Miami, Fla.) kill and did not relinquish the lead. In all, the quarterfinal match witnessed a total of 11 tie scores and six lead changes.

Entering Thursday, FGCU had split its first two matchups of the season against North Florida. The Ospreys game planned well for FGCU once again, but the Eagles remained one or two steps ahead up at the net and from the service line.

FGCU edged North Florida in total blocks (8-5) and in aces (8-4). However, UNF would outpace the Eagles in digs and only trailed FGCU in overall kills and assists by two.

Lily Felts (Knoxville, Tenn. / Tennessee), the ASUN Player of the Year, was the only Eagle to post double-figure kills (11). UNF continued to hit away from ASUN Second Team libero Dana Axner as the Dublin, Ohio native managed a season-low five digs. Axner is now 19 digs away from becoming the ASUN's all-time career digs leader.

Claire Ertel (Indianapolis, Ind.) and ASUN First Team recipient Chelsey Lockey (Eaton, Colo.) picked up the slack by registering seven digs apiece while Felts added six. Ertel paced the Eagles from the service line with three aces, while Lentz led FGCU in blocks with five.

ASUN Third Team honoree Lauren Clark (Champlin, Minn. / Penn State) posted four blocks and Emma Szypszak (Mequon, Wis.) added three as a part of FGCU's defensive effort.

Despite UNF's game plan to slow the Eagles down, FGCU still hit a combined .337 percent for the match as directed by Lockey's 30 assists. Of the 89 total attacks on Thursday, FGCU made just 10 errors.

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 208-65 (.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.