TAMPA, Fla. – With its eighth straight win, the No. 20 FGCU beach volleyball team tied its single-season program record for victories with a 3-2 decision at Tampa on Tuesday morning. Originally scheduled to be a doubleheader, the match was the only one of the day as the Spartans' third court was unplayable for the day.
With the win, the Eagles improve to 18-5 overall which ties the 2018 team, which finished as the ASUN runner-up, for the most wins in a single-season. FGCU will return to action on Friday and Saturday, April 8-9, at the FAU Paradise Classic. Tuesday marked the Eagles' second straight win over the Spartans which fell to 10-12 overall this season.
"This was another great match against Tampa which is just such a strong program," said head coach
Chris Sweat. "While we were disappointed not to be able to get the second match in today, we'll turn our focus to the weekend where we have several challenging matches including two against FAU which is ranked 10th in the country."
The teams traded points in the fifth and fourth flights to start the match.
Kaitlyn Luebbers and
Emma Hansen got on the board first with a two set (21-15, 22-20) win in the fifth flight before the Spartans tied the match 1-1 with a win in the fourth flight.
Shelby Beisner and
Trinity Rosales put the Eagles up 2-1 with a two set win in the third flight before
Lexie Hamilton and
Jaci Carpenter also had a two-set win in the second flight for the match-clinching victory.
#20 Florida Gulf Coast 3, Tampa 2
at Tampa, Fla. (UT Beach Volleyball Complex)
Order of finish: 6,5,4,3,2,1
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COACH SWEAT
Chris Sweat is in his third season as head coach of the FGCU beach volleyball program after spending the prior five seasons as an assistant coach. A member of VolleyballMag.com's Under 40 Coaching Hotshots list in January 2020, he led the Eagles to a 4-0 start in 2020 prior to the COVID-19 shutdown and has compiled a 39-20 record to open his head coaching tenure.
#FEEDFGCU
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ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 90 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 10 seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 44 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. 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 three 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 25 consecutive semesters. The past five semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2021) each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA in each. 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.
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