FORT COLLINS, Colo. - FGCU Volleyball suffers a 3-0 setback against Arkansas to close out the Colorado State Invitational Saturday.

FGCU now drops to 4-2 on the season with back-to-back losses. The Eagles lost to Colorado State 3-1 late on Friday night, but the Green and Blue opened the invitational with a 3-0 sweep of Alabama State.

Arkansas swept the competition, 3-0 against FGCU, Colorado State and Alabama State. Alabama State went 0-3, while the tournament hosts Colorado State finished 2-1 by posting wins over both the Hornets and the Eagles.

"Arkansas played outstanding today and really dictated the direction of most of the match from the service line," head coach Matt Botsford said. "I thought we got a bit more comfortable in each set, but we are still seeing far too many point runs, which is tough to overcome. We saw a lot of positives this weekend, but the key right now is building our consistency in all phases of the game."

FGCU battled all afternoon, especially in the third set by limiting the attack errors. Trailing two sets to none, the third witnessed seven tie scores and four lead changes. Arkansas would seal the match with a 25-23 set-three victory.

The Green and Blue's net defense matched Arkansas in total blocks with five apiece, but the Razorbacks edged the Eagles at the service line in total aces 12-3.

Arkansas opened the day with a 25-14 set win and followed it up with a 25-17 set-two victory. Arkansas held the ASUN leader in kills, Erin Shomaker (GRANVILLE, OHIO), to just three.

Shoemaker recorded 44 kills over the weekend. On Friday, she moved into fifth all-time in FGCU career kills (974). Shomaker is 26 kills away from the 1,000 career kill mark.

Lauren Clark (CHAMPLIN, MINN.) stepped up offensively to lead all Eagles in kills (8) against Arkansas. Both Juliana Lentz (MIAMI, FLA.) and Skylar English (NAPLES, FLA.) added six kills apiece.

Colorado native Chelsey Lockey (EATON, COLO.) posted a double-double, a team-leading 14 digs and 19 assists.

The Eagles will look to regroup next weekend at the Sunshine Invitational, hosted by the University of Florida. FGCU opens its third and final road invite of the season next Friday, Sept. 9, versus VCU (Noon) and against No. 13 Florida (7:30 p.m.).

VCU is 3-3 on the year and No. 13 Florida is currently 3-1. On Saturday, Sept. 10, FGCU is scheduled to face Georgia Southern (5-1) at 1 p.m. to round out the Sunshine 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.
 
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 188-61 (.755) 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.