The No. 20 Florida Gulf Coast University beach volleyball team split its two matches Friday to open the Palmetto Invitational in Columbia, South Carolina. The No. 20 Eagles picked up an Atlantic Sun Conference win over Jacksonville, 4-1, and fell to host South Carolina, 4-1, earlier in the day.
The Green and Blue has won 14 of their last 16 matches overall, and six consecutive in ASUN play.
Florida Gulf Coast (19-11, 6-2 ASUN) returns to action Saturday for the second and final day of the Palmetto Invitational. The No. 20 Eagles start with a ranked matchup against No. 15 Georgia State at 9 a.m. before taking on Coastal Carolina at 11 a.m. to close out the regular season.
FGCU 4, JU 1
A regrouped Eagles squad struck first against the Dolphins at the No. 5 pair. Erin Miller and Sydney Majick earned a comfortable 21-15, 21-17 victory to put FGCU up 1-0. The lead became 2-0 at the No. 4 pair. It took a hard-fought three sets, but Andrea Dietz and Mia Thompson came out on top 21-19, 19-21, 15-12.
FGCU secured the match at the No. 2 position. Ava Lilliquist and Alexis Keeter swept their contest 21-18, 21-18 to hand the Eagles an insurmountable 3-0 advantage. Lilliquist and Keeter were the Green and Blue's only pair that won both of their matches Friday.
Jacksonville secured its only point in three sets on court No. 3, and FGCU finished the day off with an 18-21, 21-15, 15-8 win at No. 1 courtesy of its All-ASUN team of Kaitlyn Luebbers and Nicole De Oliveira.
FGCU 1, South Carolina 4
The Gamecock rematch did not fall FGCU's way. In the first match of the day, South Carolina took an early lead with three-set victories at the No. 4 and 5 pairs. FGCU's duos won the opening set in both contests, but South Carolina responded. After second set triumphs, the hosts claimed both third frames by a score of 15-13.
South Carolina grew its lead to 3-0 and clinched with a two-set success at the No. 3 spot. Two more three-setters followed. For the third time, the Gamecocks earned a 15-13 final frame win, this time at the No. 1 pair, to make it 4-0.
FGCU got its lone victory on the No. 2 court. In the fourth match that went the distance, Lilliquist and Keeter prevailed 16-21, 21-12, 16-14. The Eagles' duo tallied five of the last six points of the final frame after trailing 13-11 to salvage a point for the Eagles. South Carolina squeaked out a 3-2 win earlier this season against the Eagles.
