FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Florida Gulf Coast University volleyball team dropped a 3-1 battle against No. 24 Dayton Friday to close out the Eagles' time in the FGCU Homewood Suites Fort Myers Tournament.
There was a season-high attendance of 1,337 for Taylor Swift Night and for the first match in FGCU head coach
Matt Botsford's tenure against a top 25 program in Alico Arena.
"For us the story of the match is consistency in key moments and we had some good quality points, so there is too much good to take away from tonight to dwell on it," Botsford said. "It was a learning opportunity, and we will be working on spreading out the heavy lifting from just two people and that will require us handling serve more consistently."
FGCU (8-3) struggled in the first set as the Flyers (9-1) got to a 17-9 lead, showing their dominance. The Eagles figured their offense out and unleashed a 5-0 run to close the gap to 17-14 but Dayton responded to take eight of the next 11 points from the Green & Blue, earning a 25-17 win in the set.
Dayton started at the same pace in the second set, taking an early 4-0 lead but the Eagles stormed back with a 13-6 rally to take the advantage, 13-10. The Flyers did not back down and would knot the set at 20-20. The Green & Blue responded and stifled the Flyers, outscoring them with a 5-2 spurt to win the set 25-22.
In the third set was tied 13-13 before FGCU pushed ahead thanks in part to back-to-back aces from
Skylar English to lead 18-15. The Flyers responded and not only closed the gap but tied the set 24-24. From there, Dayton kept its composure as the Eagles made two errors to drop the set 26-24.
In the final set the Green & Blue started strong with a 12-4 advantage featuring back-to-back aces from Kent and blocks from
Ella Chapman, The Flyers once again showed their offensive dominance and mounted a charge to tie the set, 20-all.
The Eagles could not find the altitude to keep up with the Flyers as Dayton pulled away for a 25-22 win to clinch the match.
Kent registered a double-double 17 kills and 12 digs while English had nine kills and six digs.
Ava Smith earned new career highs of seven kills and three digs.
FGCU will begin Atlantic Sun Conference action, heading to Stetson University Tuesday at 5 p.m. in DeLand, Florida. The tournament ends tomorrow when USF and No. 24 Dayton play at 1 p.m.
