COLLEGE PARK, Md. - FGCU Volleyball defeats Maryland 3-1 on the road to go undefeated at the Maryland Invite Saturday. The victory marked the eighth Power Five win and the third win over a Big Ten opponent in program history.
"So pleased with the effort and focus tonight," head coach Matt Botsford said. "Maryland is a quality squad that has a lot of talented and physical players that pose a lot of matchup issues. I thought the team did a nice job at the service line to disrupt their offense, and that played a big role in our successes. A lot of great individual performances, but we won this one because of the team's consistency and depth in each position. Nice to get a road win against a Big Ten team and a great way to finish the weekend!"
With the weekend sweep at the Maryland Invite, FGCU improves to 3-0 to begin the 2022 season. The Green and Blue defeated both Navy and Rhode Island 3-1 on Friday. Maryland fell to 2-1 in the loss.
FGCU came out firing early, winning the first two sets 25-16 and 25-23. In fact, the Eagles opened the night with a 7-1 advantage in the opening set.
The Terps would tie the opening set at 11-11, but the Eagles pieced together a 14-5 run to capture a 1-0 set lead. FGCU held a .364 hitting percentage in the first, led by none other than the ASUN Preseason Player of the Year Erin Shomaker.
For the night, the Eagles hit .254 and held Maryland to just a .185 hitting percentage.
Shomaker tallied 27 kills on the night, tying a career high and tying fifth all-time in FCCU individual match records for the most kills in a single contest. For a four-set contest, 27 kills ties the program record for a single match. Shomaker also moved into sixth place all-time in career kills at FGCU with 938.
Skylar English added 13 kills to the Eagle cause. FGCU also topped the Terps in overall aces 11-5 thanks to English's teaming-leading five.
Dana Axner's defensive presence helped the Eagles surpass the Terps in total digs, 59-21, as Maryland won the net defense battle 23-8. Axner recorded a team-leading 19 digs, while Chelsey Lockey added 15 digs and 49 assists.
FGCU rallied from an 8-3 deficit in the second set to take a 2-0 lead, winning 25-23. Maryland found a spark in the third set to roll to a 25-13 set-three win, but FGCU would flip the script with a 25-14 set win of its own to clinch the match.
The Eagles sealed the match with a 16-5 run late in the fourth after being tied 9-9.
FGCU will be back in action next Friday as the Eagles travel to Colorado for the Colorado State Invitational. The Eagles will face Alabama State (1 p.m.) and tournament host Colorado State (9 p.m.) on Friday and then Arkansas on Saturday at 1 p.m.
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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 187-59 (.760) record overall, including a 96-20 (.827) 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 14+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 10 plus 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. In five of the past six semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2021), the Eagles reached another milestone 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.
