FORT COLLINS, Colo. - FGCU Volleyball has its second Power Five opportunity of the season Saturday as it closes out the Colorado State Invitational. The Eagles are set to face SEC foe Arkansas at 1 p.m. (ET).

FGCU is 2-7 all-time against the SEC. The Eagles have wins over both Auburn (2018) and Georgia (2021). The Green and Blue has eight Power Five wins in program history, adding to the count last Saturday with a win over Maryland.

The Eagles enter today's slate 4-1 on the season while the Razorbacks are 3-1. Arkansas swept both Alabama State and Colorado State 3-0 on Friday. The Razorbacks opened the 2022 season with a 3-1 win over No. 8 Washington.

Alabama State is 0-2 at the invite and Colorado State is 1-1, defeating the Hornets (3-0) and losing to Arkansas (3-0).

On Friday, the Eagles split its first two games of the invite, sweeping Alabama State 3-0 and falling to Colorado State 1-3.

Friday witnessed a tale of two games for the Eagles. The Eagles held a season-high hitting percentage of .384 against Alabama State and then were plagued by unforced errors in the night matchup against Colorado State, credited with 36 attack errors in their first loss of the year.

Erin Shoemaker (GRANVILLE, OHIO) moved into fifth all-time in FGCU career kills (971) on Friday is now just 29 away kills from becoming the fifth Eagle to ever reach the 1,000 career kill mark. She also leads the Eagles and the ASUN in total kills with 83.

Place. Name (Year)	Career Kills at FGCU
1. Cortney VanLiew (2017-21)	1,657
2. Amanda Carroll (2015-19)	1,483
3. Brooke Youngquist (2004-07)	1,173
4. Olivia Mesner (2011-14)	1,132
5. Erin Shomaker (2019-	971

Skylar English (NAPLES, FLA.) has emerged onto the scene with a team-leading 15 blocks and 15 aces, also adding 50 kills. As a team, FGCU currently ranks 5th nationally in aces per set with 2.75.

Defensive specialist Dana Axner (DUBLIN, OHIO) is 4th in the conference in total digs with 69. Entering the weekend, Axner is 4th in all of Division I active career players in overall career digs (2,005). Axner became FGCU's all-time leader in career digs last weekend.

Setter Chelsey Lockey (EATON, COLO.) is third in the ASUN in assists per set at 10.53.

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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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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.