The Florida Gulf Coast University volleyball team swept Little Rock before dropping a close 3-2 battle against Ole Miss Saturday to close out the Ole Miss Invitational in Oxford, Mississippi. FGCU snapped its five-match winning streak after not losing since August 31.
"Great match tonight and a great weekend overall," head coach
Matt Botsford said. "Thought we gained some valuable insight into what we can be and I love the fight and competitive drive of this group. I'm excited to get home so we can start preparing for two quality teams that will be in our gym in just a few days."
FGCU (7-2) faced the Trojans (5-3) in the morning action of the invitational. In the first set, Little Rock led 8-4 but the Eagles responded with an 8-2 run to overtake the lead 12-10. From there, the Eagles never looked back outscoring the Trojans 13-10 to take the first set with a 25-20 victory.
The Eagles opened the second set with a 5-0 advantage, but the Trojans marched their way back into the set with a 7-3 rally to trail just by one, 8-7. The Eagles answered with an offensive barrage and kept Little Rock at bay with a 17-8 run to win 25-15.
In the third set, both teams were tied 8-8 before the Green & Blue pushed ahead for 11 points compared to Little Rock's seven to lead 19-15. The Trojans did not walk away easily and had a 5-1 run to tie the match at 20 apiece, but they would only score two more points as FGCU sealed its second sweep of the season with a 25-22 victory.
English fired 10 kills, while
Shelby Kent registered 12 and
Shanelle Puetz had 23 assists.
In the evening match, FGCU and the Rebels entered the night undefeated. The Eagles got to a 10-5 lead off a pair of kills each from
Barbara Koehler and
Ella Chapman.
Ole Miss went on a 7-3 rally to close the gap to one,13-12, but FGCU responded with its own 5-1 run to lead 18-13.
The Rebels grouped and unleashed an 11-6 rally to tie the set 24 all. From there, both teams traded one-point leads before being locked again at 31. Ole Miss then pulled away by two to take the first set 33-31.
The Rebels jumped out to a 17-10 advantage in the second set and the Eagles could not find an offensive answer, only registering four more points as Ole Miss took the set 25-14.
Set three began with teams locked at 7-7 before FGCU had an 8-2 run to lead 15-9. The Rebels responded with a 9-5 rally to trail by two 20-18. The Eagles would then silence the Mississippi crowd with an impressive 5-0 run to close out the set with a 25-18 victory and force a fourth set.
Set four started like the previous one, with both teams tied at 10 apiece before the Eagles released a 10-5 run with three kills coming from Kent for FGCU to lead 20-15. The Green & Blue would keep up the pace and win 25-20 to push for a fifth deciding set.
The battle continued in the final set with the score being even 9-9 before the Eagles took a 12-10 lead, but it was not meant to be, as the Rebels first evened the match to 13 all before delivering a 2-0 run to win 15-13
– taking the match 3-2.
Koehler paced the Eagles in kills, tallying 15 while setting a new career high in block assists with six. English had a double-double with 14 kills and 11 digs, while Kent also had double-digit kills (12) and 10 digs.
Shanelle Puetz was just one shy of a career-high, registering 37 assists.
FGCU will return home to host the Homewood Suites Fort Myers Tournament Sep 19-21. The classic will feature No. 24 Dayton and USF.
