FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (7-7, 4-0 ASUN) stayed perfect in conference play with a 3-2 win over Bellarmine (8-7, 2-2 ASUN) on Friday night at Alico Arena, taking the match 16-25, 25-9, 22-25, 25-15, 15-4 on Dig Pink Night. Senior captain Julija Grubisic Cabo reached 500 career kills at FGCU in the win, and Florida Gulf Coast extended its winning streak to four.
 
FGCU out-hit Bellarmine .261 to .077 and out-killed the Knights 61-34 while holding a 67-48 edge in digs. Grubisic Cabo and Maju Hildebrand each led the attack with 13 kills, as Grubisic Cabo added 14 digs for a double-double and Hildebrand chipped in six total blocks and a match-high 16 points. Camila Soto hit .688 with 11 kills and no errors on 16 attempts, and Abby Toeniskoetter added nine kills on .600 hitting without an error to go with a match-high eight total blocks. Amany Kuwa contributed eight kills and four blocks, and Katie Gielas finished with seven kills, 12 digs, four blocks and two aces. Dinara Sabitova posted a double-double of 25 assists and a match-high 19 digs, Eliska Vytiskova added 22 assists and two aces, and Anna Marzella had 13 digs and nine assists. "I think it just shows how offensively strong we are and that we have so many weapons," head coach Thais Baziquetto-Allen said. "People are scouting us and they know what we're comfortable with, but we have multiple choices where we can make adjustments. If you're going to take this away, then we're going to run a little bit differently so that we can take advantage of what they're leaving open."
 


Bellarmine controlled much of the opening set, but Grubisic Cabo's milestone came early, as she put away a kill off a Vytiskova set with FGCU trailing 6-11 for the 500th of her FGCU career. The Knights stretched the lead to 19-7 before the Eagles answered with a 7-2 surge, as a Soto kill and a Sabitova ace got the run started and Grubisic Cabo added two kills and a service ace to cut the deficit to 14-21. Bellarmine closed out the set 25-16.
 
Florida Gulf Coast responded in a big way in the second. Toeniskoetter teamed up with Hildebrand and Gielas on blocks to open the set, then added a kill for a 3-0 lead. After Bellarmine pulled within 5-4, a Kuwa kill started a six-point run, with Gielas serving the last five, highlighted by a Soto kill, back-to-back blocks from Soto and Kuwa and Kuwa and Grubisic Cabo, and a Gielas ace for an 11-4 lead. Sabitova then served four straight points, including an ace and a Toeniskoetter-Hildebrand block, to push the margin to 18-6, and Soto closed out the 25-9 set with a kill. FGCU hit .500 with just one error in the frame and recorded six team blocks.
 
The third set was the tightest of the night, featuring 12 ties and seven lead changes. With the score tied at 9, Gielas ripped back-to-back kills on Devynn Schulze's serve, and a Kuwa-Hildebrand block and a Bellarmine attack error made it four straight points and a 13-9 FGCU lead. Bellarmine answered with a run of its own to go up 19-15, but kills from Soto, Kuwa and Grubisic Cabo and a Gielas-Toeniskoetter block pulled the Eagles within 21-22 before the Knights took the set 25-22.
 
The Eagles took control from the start of the fourth. Toeniskoetter was in on two blocks, one each with Gielas and Hildebrand, as FGCU built a 13-7 lead, capped by a Hildebrand kill. Bellarmine got within 14-12, but a Soto kill and a Gielas ace restored the cushion, and after Soto's kill made it 18-14, Sabitova went back to the line and served six straight points. Grubisic Cabo put down four kills in the run, two pairs of back-to-back swings around a Toeniskoetter kill and a Bellarmine attack error, for a 24-14 lead, and a Bellarmine service error closed out the 25-15 set.
 
Hildebrand set the tone in the fifth with four kills in FGCU's first five points for a 5-2 lead. Vytiskova followed by serving four straight points, opening with an ace and closing with another around a Gielas-Kuwa block and a Soto kill, to make it 9-2. Gielas then sided out with a kill and served four more, as kills from Grubisic Cabo and Soto and back-to-back kills from Kuwa pushed the lead to 14-3. FGCU hit .579 without an attack error in the frame and sealed the 15-4 set on a Bellarmine service error, improving to 2-0 in five-set matches this season. "We have done a tremendous job in the fifth set, just being consistent on our serve and being really efficient on offense," Baziquetto-Allen said. "You can't lose that set playing like that."
 
Florida Gulf Coast closes out its five-match homestand on Sunday, Oct. 11, against Lipscomb at 1 p.m. at Alico Arena on Fan Appreciation Day.

POSTGAME THOUGHTS:

 
HIGHLIGHTS:

• Julija Grubisic Cabo recorded the 500th kill of her FGCU career in the first set and finished with a double-double of 13 kills and 14 digs
• FGCU improved to 4-0 in ASUN play and extended its winning streak to four
• Maju Hildebrand matched Grubisic Cabo with 13 kills, including four in the first five points of the fifth set, and added six total blocks and a match-high 16 points
• Camila Soto (11 kills, .688) and Abby Toeniskoetter (nine kills, .600, eight total blocks) did not commit an attack error
• Dinara Sabitova posted a double-double of 25 assists and a match-high 19 digs

 
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