Florida Gulf Coast University's volleyball team pushed its winning streak to four after defeating Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee Friday evening. The Eagles are currently first in the Atlantic Sun Conference standings while Lipscomb sits in third.
"Really happy with the whole team's performance and focus tonight. We were effective in the side out game and when you couple that with the kind of team defense we were playing, good things happen," head coach
Matt Botsford said. "Destiny and Claire were both outstanding and made big impacts out there for us right when and where we needed them."
The Eagles (17-4, 9-1 ASUN) jumped out to a 17-7 advantage in set one thanks in part to five kills from
Shelby Kent. The Bisons (10-10, 7-2 ASUN) responded with a 10-4 run to close the gap to 21-17 but the Green & Blue easily closed out the set, winning 25-20.
In set two, the Eagles once again showed their dominance early on with an 18-12 lead with five kills again from Kent. The Bisons tried holding on but the Eagles remained calm and benefited off three kills from
Skylar English to take the set with the same score from the first set, 25-20.
Set three began and FGCU had its eyes on a sweep, starting off with an 8-4 lead. Lipscomb responded and unleashed a 17-7 rally to take the lead 21-15. FGCU attempted to stop the Bisons with a 5-1 spurt to trail 22-20 but the Bisons pulled away and won the set 25-21.
The Eagles were determined to get the win without going to a fifth set and gained an 18-11 advantage in the fourth featuring four kills from
Destiny Nelson. The Green & Blue then closed out the set outscoring the Bisons with a 7-3 run to win 25-14.
English posted a double-double of 16 kills and 11 digs, while Kent registered a match-high of 18 kills.
Shanelle Puetz registered 27 assists and three aces.
FGCU will now head to Clarksville, Tennessee to take on Austin Peay Saturday at 8 p.m.
