FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (5-7, 2-0 ASUN) made it back-to-back sweeps to open conference play with a 3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-19) win over Queens (4-11, 0-2 ASUN) on Friday at Alico Arena. Katie Gielas led the way with 14 kills, and Julija Grubisic Cabo added 11 kills on .476 hitting.
 
FGCU out-hit Queens .367 to .173, out-killed the Royals 44-36 and out-aced them 7-4, with three Eagles reaching double figures in kills. Head coach Thais Baziquetto-Allen pointed to the Eagles' serving and offense as the keys. "We're pretty good at the service line, keeping them out of system," she said. "It's really hard to stop our offense when we're in system like that." Gielas led all players with 14 kills on .400 hitting and added two aces for 16.5 points. Grubisic Cabo matched her with 16.5 points, adding four aces, seven digs and three total blocks to her 11 kills, while Maju Hildebrand added 10 kills on .450 hitting. Abby Toeniskoetter posted a match-high six total blocks to go with four kills. Dinara Sabitova and Eliska Vytiskova combined for 34 assists, with Sabitova dishing out 18 and adding a team-high nine digs.
 
Queens jumped out early in the opener, building a 3-7 lead, but FGCU chipped away. Toeniskoetter and Gielas answered with kills to pull within 10-13, and after Queens pushed the lead back to four at 10-14, Toeniskoetter and Camila Soto teamed up on back-to-back blocks and a Queens attack error made it 13-14. Trailing 13-16, the Eagles took over with four straight points, back-to-back Soto kills followed by back-to-back Grubisic Cabo kills, to grab their first lead of the night at 17-16. Grubisic Cabo added another kill and Sabitova served an ace for a 19-17 edge, and a Hildebrand kill made it 20-17. After Queens tied it at 20, Hildebrand answered with a kill, Grubisic Cabo followed with an ace, and Amany Kuwa and Hildebrand combined on a block for a 23-21 lead. Gielas brought up set point with a kill at 24-22, and after Queens tied it at 24, Toeniskoetter put FGCU back in front with a kill off a Vytiskova set. Gielas sealed the 26-24 set with a service ace, capping a frame in which Grubisic Cabo put down six kills.
 
The second set was tied six times through the first 18 points before FGCU pulled away. Gielas leveled it at 8 with a kill, and after Queens tied it again at 9, Grubisic Cabo put the Eagles ahead for good with back-to-back kills. Hildebrand followed with a kill for a 12-9 advantage, then added another before a Gielas kill made it 14-11, and her fourth kill of the set pushed the lead to 17-13. FGCU closed the set on a seven-point run. A Queens attack error made it 19-16, and Marzella went to the line for the final six points of the set. Grubisic Cabo and Toeniskoetter combined on two blocks during the run, Queens committed three more attack errors, and Grubisic Cabo finished it with a kill off a Marzella set, 25-16. FGCU held Queens to -.129 hitting in the frame.
 
FGCU blew the third set open early. Queens scored the first two points, but Gielas answered with back-to-back kills to spark eight straight Eagles points, seven of them with Grubisic Cabo at the line. Grubisic Cabo served three consecutive aces in the run, and Gielas capped it with another kill for an 8-2 lead. Gielas kept rolling with three more kills as the Eagles pushed the margin to 13-7, and a Soto kill and a Toeniskoetter solo block made it 15-9. Kills from Hildebrand and Toeniskoetter extended the lead to 17-10, and Gielas struck again with a kill and a service ace before Vytiskova added a kill for a 22-13 advantage, FGCU's largest of the set. Toeniskoetter brought up match point with a kill at 24-18, and Hildebrand ended it with a kill off a Sabitova set to seal the 25-19 set and the sweep. Gielas finished the third with seven kills as FGCU hit .500 in the frame.
 
FGCU continues its homestand Sunday, Oct. 4, hosting West Florida at 1 p.m. at Alico Arena in the first-ever meeting between the programs.
 
HIGHLIGHTS:

• FGCU improved to 2-0 in ASUN play with its third sweep of the season and moved to 9-0 all-time against Queens
• Katie Gielas led all players with 14 kills on .400 hitting, including seven in the third set
• Julija Grubisic Cabo totaled 11 kills on .476 hitting, four aces and seven digs, serving three straight aces during an eight-point third-set run
• Abby Toeniskoetter posted a match-high six total blocks, and FGCU held Queens to .173 hitting

 
POSTGAME THOUGHTS:


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