NASHVILLE, Tenn. - FGCU volleyball advances to the ASUN Championship title match with a 3-1 (25-20, 25-21 25-18, 25-11) win over sixth-seeded Kennesaw State on Friday.

The second-seeded Eagles will make their seventh-straight conference finals appearance on Saturday facing No. 1 Liberty. The top-seeded Flames survived a five-set battle against No. 4 Lipscomb following the Eagles' match. FGCU eyes to capture back-to-back ASUN Tournament titles for the first time in program history. The title match and its automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament is slated for an 8 p.m. (ET) start on ESPN+.

FGCU improved to 25-6 in Friday's semifinal victory, winners of nine straight. Kennesaw State's year comes to a close at 18-10 overall after dropping both its matchups against the Eagles this season.

"Kennesaw played outstanding and they found some things that were working for them," head coach Matt Botsford said. "We talked through that we were going to have to manage this as we get into sets three and four. I thought our girls did a really good job of being resilient and making some changes. The serving started that for us. The team has done such a great job of focusing on what's right in front of them. I feel really good about where we are heading into tomorrow. I'm excited and they are excited. I gotta add, Lauren Clark's performance tonight was just phenomenal. She changed what Kennesaw was able to do with her impact."

In the opening set, the Eagles began to separate themselves with a 6-0 run taking a 13-8 advantage. Kennesaw State pulled within one 15-14, but FGCU proved to be too much, winning the first set 25-20.

The Owls put the Eagles on their heels in the second, posting a 25-21 victory to tie the match at a one set apiece. Botsford's squad responded with a 25-18 set-three win and in full control, dominated the fourth (25-11) to clinch the semifinal match. Only one lead change occurred throughout the course of the third and fourth sets.

The Owls matched FGCU's net defensive effort in total blocks, but the Green and Blue flashed its superiority in overall kills (58-47), assists (56-45) and digs (53-42). In fact, Four Eagles reached double-figure kills in its offensive display as FGCU hit a combined .352 percent for the match, including a match high of .591 in the third set.

ASUN Player of the Year Lily Felts (Knoxville, Tenn. / Tennessee) and enter ASUN Third Team honoree Lauren Clark (Champlin, Minn. / Penn State) to lead the way with 16 kills apiece. Clark produced her 16 kills on just 28 swings, boasting an .464 attacking percentage disrupting the Owls' set-two momentum.

Erin Shomaker (Granville, Ohio) and Juliana Lentz (Miami, Fla.) each added 10 kills to highlight FGCU's top attackers. Shomaker's double-digit night marked her 400th kill of the season.

Setter Chelsey Lockey (Eaton, Colo.) facilitated the Eagles' offensive output with 48 assists, one assist shy of tying a season high. Lockey also turned in 13 digs on the defensive side of the ball to give her 10th double-double of the season.

Dana Axner (Dublin, Ohio) accounted for 12 digs to bring her within seven to surpass Shelley Walroth (Jacksonville: 2006-09) to become the ASUN's all time leader in career digs.

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 209-65 (.763) 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.