Florida Gulf Coast University volleyball rallied through five sets to win 3-2 against Lindenwood University before delivering a 3-1 victory over Dartmouth Friday on the opening day of the Northeastern Tournament in Boston, Massachusetts.
"A lot of nice things out there today, especially with our blocking and team defense," head coach
Matt Botsford said. "We still have a lot of room to grow offensively and must be more consistent within the attacking phase. Right now, the variance between our top and bottom end is just too high."
In set one against Lindenwood, the Eagles built a one-point advantage, leading 11-10 off six kills that came from
Shelby Kent before Lindenwood went on a 12-6 run to overtake the lead 22-17. From there, the Lions sealed the first set with a 25-19 victory.
In set two, the Green & Blue (4-1) got in control early with a 14-10 advantage. Lindenwood tried closing the gap, but the Eagles would not drop the pace and both teams scored six points with FGCU still leading 20-16. The Green & Blue then reeled off five points and the Lions did not have an answer, resulting in the Eagles winning the set, 25-16.
FGCU jumped to a 7-3 lead in set three before Lindenwood (2-2) chased the Eagles down with a 7-4 rally to trail by one, 11-10. The Green & Blue responded with a 12-7 run to lead 23-17, but the Lions would not make the same mistake from the previous set and stopped the Eagles mid-flight with a 7-1 rally to tie the set 24-24.
The Eagles could only squeeze out one more point and Lindenwood won 27-25.
In set four, the Eagles secured an 18-13 advantage due to multiple errors by the Lions and kept the pace going as
Barbara Koehler,
Skylar English, Kent and
Ella Chapman all delivered an attack each to wrap up a 25-19 victory for FGCU to force a fifth set.
The Lions meant business in the final set, going on a 7-0 run to lead 7-1. The Eagles would not fly away that easily and had their own 11-5 rally to close the gap and even the set at 12 apiece. The Lions got one more in before FGCU scored three consecutive points to win the set 15-13 and the overall match.
Kent had a double-double with 18 kills and 17 digs while English registered 11 kills, 14 digs, five block assists and three aces.
Claire Ertel had 18 digs and seven assists. The Eagles owned the service line, outpacing the Lions 9-3 in aces.
In the second match, the Green & Blue easily built a 20-14 lead featuring four kills each from Koehler and English. The Eagles then outpaced Dartmouth (0-1) to take the first set 25-18.
The Big Green started with a minor 6-4 advantage in the second set before the Eagles evened the score to 13 all. FGCU continued with its scoring momentum to lead 21-16 and did not look back winning the set 25-22.
In set three the Green & Blue trailed by one, 15-14, before the Big Green unleashed a 10-1 run that the Eagles had no answer for and won 25-15.
Set four started with the Eagles leading 13-8 before Dartmouth had a 9-5 rally to trail just by one, 18-17. The Eagles answered with a 7-2 run to win 25-19 and stop the Big Green's hope of a fifth set winning the match 4-1.
"Skylar was outstanding throughout both matches and especially within serve receive. I also really liked the spark that Ava and Destiny provided in the second match of the day," Coach Botsford said.
Both English and Kent had a game high 16 kills while Richardson had a game high and season best 33 assists and eight digs.
FGCU takes on host Northeastern at 2 p.m. Saturday for its final match of the two-day tournament.
