FORT COLLINS, Colo. -  FGCU Volleyball split the twin-bill action at the Colorado State Invitational Friday. The Eagles swept Alabama State 3-0 and fell to Colorado State in the night cap 1-3.

With the Friday split, FGCU is now 4-1 on the year. Alabama State fell to 0-5, and Colorado State improved to 3-2.

"Nice match in the morning with some good opportunities to see some different lineup variations out on the court," head coach Matt Botsford said. "The ball control and serving was outstanding and led the way for us. This evening started out with that same service pressure putting us in a good spot in set one. Unfortunately, CSU found their rhythm defensively at the net and our hitters had a real tough time creating. We became really high error, too predictable and just couldn't apply pressure. There were some nice runs where I felt like our floor defenders were keeping us in it, but without point scoring, we found ourselves not able to contain their runs."

FGCU opened the day with a three-set sweep of Alabama State. The Eagles dominated the Hornets as the match witnessed only three tie scores and two lead changes. The Green and Blue held Alabama State to a .097 hitting percentage, surrendering only 23 kills.

Offensively, the Eagles hit .384 for the match, including .500 in the opening set. FGCU soared out to a 5-0 advantage to begin the day and rolled to a 25-12 set-one victory. A 25-12 point spread marked the largest margin of victory for the Eagles this season.

The Hornets showed some life in the second and swarmed to within two, 18-16. After a timely timeout, FGCU put together a 7-2 run to take the set 25-18 and a 2-0 match lead.

FGCU clinched the match in the third set, winning 25-13 for its first sweep of the season. The Eagles outpaced the Hornets in kills 44-23 and in aces 10-2, recording double-digit aces for the third straight match. 

Entering the match, FGCU ranked sixth nationally in aces per set (2.75).

Both Skylar English (16) and Erin Shomaker (13) recorded double-digit kills and hit a .470 against the Hornets. English hit .519 and Shomaker hit .478. 

English's season-high of 16 kills was one kill short from tying a career high of 17 from a season ago. She also added four aces.

In the night cap, FGCU won the opening set for the fifth consecutive game this season, edging Colorado State 25-23 in the first.

Unforced errors then plagued the Eagle offensive attack the rest of the way as the Rams would secure three unanswered set victories (25-20, 25-19 and 25-16) to down FGCU 1-3. FGCU had 36 attack errors, 10 service errors and eight reception errors despite leading the Rams in total kills, 57-42. 

Shomaker led the charge with 20 kills while Juliana Lents added 10. Colorado native Chelsey Lockey recorded 44 assists, her second 40+ assist outing of the season and her 27th of her career.

Shoemaker moved into fifth all-time in FGCU career kills (971) and is now just 29 kills away from becoming the fifth Eagle to ever reach the 1,000 career kill mark. At 83 kills on the season, she currently leads the ASUN.

The Eagles are set to face Arkansas (3-1) tomorrow at 1 p.m. to close out the Colorado State Invitational.

For complete coverage of the volleyball program, follow the Eagles on Twitter at @FGCU_VB, on Instagram at @FGCU_VB, on Facebook at /FGCUVolleyball and online at FGCUathletics.com. You can also sign-up to have news on FGCU volleyball or other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
 
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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 188-60 (.758) 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.

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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.