FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU beach volleyball team (16-16) takes on seventh-seeded Austin Peay (16-10) Friday at noon on the campus of University of North Florida in Jacksonville.
The Eagles made it to the ASUN title match last season, but fell to Stetson 3-0 in the championship match.
FGCU went 3-1 last weekend at the Palmetto Invitational – defeating College of Charleston, Jacksonville and Coastal Carolina. The Governors are coming off a 4-0 weekend – defeating Jacksonville State twice and Chattanooga.
The pair of junior
Kacie Johnson (
Frisco, Texas/ Lebanon Trail) and senior
Maddison Parmelly (
Rockwall, Texas/Rockwall Health) lead the Eagles with 16 wins. Johnson and Parmelly earned a spot on both the ASUN First Team All-Conference list and the ASUN All-Academic team.
Senior
Shelby Beisner (
Port Charlotte, Fla/Charlotte), junior
Trinity Rosales (
Wilmington, N.C./Eugene Ashley), graduate
Lexie Hamilton (
Naples, Fla./Barron Collier HS/UNCW), and sophomore
Kaitlyn Luebbers (
Union, Ky./Randall K. Cooper) all earned a spot on the ASUN Second Team All-Conference.
Freshmen
Kristina Gluc (
Kissimmee, Fla./Osceola Virtual) and
Dylan Brewer (
Lantana, Texas/John H. Guyer HS) earned their way on the ASUN All-Freshman Team.
FGCU has only met Austin Peay two times and leads the series 2-0.
The winner of the FGCU-APSU match moves on to play the winner between No. 3 North Florida (21-9) and No. 6 Eastern Kentucky (15-13) at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
For complete coverage of the beach volleyball program, follow the Eagles on Twitter and Instagram at @FGCU_BeachVB, on Facebook at /fgcubeachvb and online at FGCUathletics.com. You can also sign up to have news on FGCU beach volleyball or other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting
www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
COACH SWEAT
Chris Sweat's 2022 team finished with a program-high 29 wins, and Sweat earned his 50th career victory in just his third season as coach. Sweat became the first coach in FGCU program history to earn ASUN Coach of the Year accolade after guiding his team to its 11th-consecutive appearance in the ASUN Championship. The Eagles earned wins over two top-25 teams in 2022, downing No. 17 Stetson and No. 18 South Carolina while also taking down seven different conference squads. Sweat's FGCU program again ascended to a No. 20 ranking in the AVCA Top 20 in March 2022 and maintained that ranking through the ASUN Tournament. He is in his fourth season as head coach of the FGCU beach volleyball program after spending the prior five seasons as an assistant coach. A member of VolleyballMag.com's Under 40 Coaching Hotshots list in January 2020, he led the Eagles to a 4-0 start in 2020 prior to the COVID-19 shutdown and has compiled a 66-40 (.622) record.
#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 97 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 48 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Nine FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 20 in 2021-22 and No. 22 in 2022-23), baseball (No. 15 in 2023), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022), and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as five of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green & 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 3.67 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2022 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 27 consecutive semesters. The past seven semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative team GPA. 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.
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