FORT MYERS, Fla. - FGCU Volleyball won the Homewood Suites FGCU Invitational Saturday to wrap up non-conference action.

FGCU defeated Florida Atlantic 3-0 (25-21, 25-15 and 28-26) in a battle of invitational unbeatens. The in-state victory over the Owls extended FGCU's current win streak to five, 10-3 overall. The Saturday sweep also marked the fifth sweep of the season for the Green and Blue.

The Eagles also grabbed the all-time series lead against the Owls, 7-6. In the loss, FAU dropped to 10-2 overall on the season.

In the morning action on Saturday, FGCU silenced the St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers 3-0 (25-11, 25.14 and 25-16). On Friday, FGCU played matador to take down the Bulls from the University of Buffalo 3-1.

Homewood Suites FGCU Invitational Standings:
3-0 FGCU
2-1 FAU 
1-2 Buffalo
0-3 St. Francis Brooklyn

All-Tournament Team:
- Dana Axner (FGCU)
- Nolle Stephens (FAU)
- Courtney Okwara (Buffalo)
- Camelia Melendez (St. Francis Brooklyn)

Tournament MVP
- Lauren Clark (FGCU)

"What an amazing environment in Alico again tonight," head coach Matt Botsford said. "That was the best crowd we've seen here, and they played a huge role in helping us fight our way back in that third set. I thought our defense paved the way all night, and that was a big priority for us facing off against a very good offensive team like FAU. I thought our first contact was steady, and I loved the way we managed the service line. Dana and Lauren were tremendous all weekend and played with such poise and confidence. Happy to see them recognized as all tournament."

In front of another 1,000-plus Green and Blue faithful of a crowd, FGCU captured the opening set to kick off the match against Owls (25-21).

FAU answered to hold a 12-9 lead over the Eagles in set two. A 4-0 FGCU run gifted the Eagles back the sole lead. An ensuing 13-13 set-two tie disappeared courtesy of a 12-2 Eagle run to cap a 25-15 set win and take a 2-0 set advantage in the match.

FGCU earned the match in a set-three thriller in comeback fashion. Trailing 24-20 at the hands of a FAU set point, FGCU stormed back to tie the third 24-24, win the third 28-26 and the match 3-0.

Both Lily Felts (13) and Erin Shomaker (14) led the offensive charge against the Owls by posting another double-digit kill outing. Felts tied a season-high in kills, just like in the morning action against St. Francis Brookyln, and recorded her fifth-straight match of 10-or-more kills.

Felts tallied a team-leading 13 kills on just 16 swings (.812%) to highlight the morning win over St. Francis.

Axner posted a season-high of 22 digs against FAU. Chelsey Lockey was one dig shy of recording a double-double in both assists (38) and digs (9) versus the Owls.

Tournament MVP Clark provided the weekend spark for the Eagles, 31 kills (.429%) and 11 block assists. Clark tallied a season-high of 15 kills in the win over Buffalo on Friday.

All-Tournament Team selection Axner posted 53 digs to help hold FGCU's opponent hitting percentage to just .155 percent for the weekend.

UP NEXT

FGCU will begin ASUN conference play on the road at North Florida on September, 23 at 4 p.m. North Florida (2-9) was picked to finish 6th on the ASUN Preseason Coaches Poll.

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 193-62 (.756) 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.