FORT MYERS, Fla. –Florida Gulf Coast University's volleyball team delivered a 3-1 victory Sunday and became the first Atlantic Sun Conference team to defeat Central Arkansas in the 2024 season.
"Outside of a tough third set I thought our defense was outstanding and ultimately what made the difference," head coach
Matt Botsford said. "We were obviously too high an error overall on the attacking side, but we were able to work through that by leaning on other areas."
"I was really pleased with the way Ella and Oreva played and thought they were both really impactful at the net which gave our setters some nice options.
In the first set, the Eagles (16-4, 8-1 ASUN) began with a 15-8 advantage, before UCA (10-9, 7-1 ASUN) closed the gap with a 6-2 run to trail 17-14. From there, FGCU answered by remaining in control and cruised to a 25-20 win.
In set two, The Green & Blue jumped out to a 16-10 lead but just like the first set the Sugar Bears rallied back with a 6-2 run to trail by two points, 18-16. The Eagles answered with a 7-2 run to easily close out the set 25-18.
Set three started with both teams tied 4-4 before UCA unleashed a 13-3 rally to lead 17-7. The Sugar Bears never looked back and released an offensive surge to win the set 25-11 and force a fourth set.
Both teams applied pressure in the fourth and were locked at 8-8 before the Eagles took the lead with a 12-6 run to take a 20-14 advantage. Central Arkansas would not be tamed that easily and responded with a 6-1 rally to trail just by one 21-20.
With the roaring Eagle crowd now fired up,
Destiny Nelson fired off a kill, followed by an ace from
Reese Burry and two final kills from English to put the match away for the Eagles giving UCA its first conference defeat.
Kent and English both registered 14 kills while
Shanelle Puetz had 27 assists.
The Eagles will now hit the road for five away matches, first stopping at Lipscomb on Friday for a 7 p.m. match.
