Eagles Sweep FIU 3-0 In Miami
MIAMI – FGCU Volleyball recorded its second-straight sweep with a 3-0 win at Florida International Tuesday night.
The Eagles have swept its opponents three times this season, Alabama State, Georgia Southern and now FIU. FGCU improved to 7-3 on the season, while FIU dropped to 1-9 overall.
Tuesday’s win also marked the 12th straight FGCU victory over the Panthers.
“It was a great performance by our whole team from start to finish,” head coach Matt Botsford said. “The consistency in each phase is something we have been talking a lot about, and I thought they managed the game extremely well with that as a priority. Lauren did an excellent job providing point scoring on the backside, and Oreva was a nice spark helping us take control of set two. Chelsey’s distribution and location was really on display tonight, putting our hitters in some real good spots.”
FGCU opened the first set hitting .412 percent and snatched a 25-23 set-one win. However, FIU would actually outhit the Eagles in the first at .500 percent.
The Green and Blue’s defense clamped down in the remaining two sets as FIU would only muster .073 hitting percent in the third.
FGCU’s net defense tallied 10 blocks on the night, the second double-digit block outing of the season. Oreva Evivie (Charlotte, N.C.) led all Eagles in blocks with five. FGCU posted a season-high of 14 blocks as a team in the season-opening win over Navy.
The Eagles kept the Panthers from grabbing their first lead of the night up until the second set, 6-5.
FIU would then hold a 10-6 advantage in the second before the Eagles knotted it 14-14. FGCU executed an 11-5 run to take the second 25-19 and 2-0 set lead.
The Green and Blue soared out to a 9-3 lead in the third looking to clinch the match. FIU pulled within two twice, 14-12 and 21-19. A late 4-0 FGCU run capped a set-three (25-19) and a match win for the Eagles.
Offensively, the three separate Eagles posted double-figures in kills for the first this season. Erin Shomaker (Granville, Ohio) led the charge with 15, while Lauren Clark Champlin, Minn) and Lily Felts (Knoxville, Tenn.) each added 10.
| Place. Name (Year) | FGCU Career Kills |
| 1. Courtney VanLiew (2017-21) | 1,657 |
| 2. Amanda Carroll (2015-19) | 1,483 |
| 3. Brooke Youngquist (2004-07) | 1,173 |
| 4. Olivia Mesner (2011-14) | 1,132 |
| 5. Erin Shomaker (2019- | 1,022 |
Fifteen kills for Shomaker marked her fifth double-digit kill effort of the season, the fourth for Clark. Felts tied a personal season high in the kill category in a Green and Blue uniform.
Setter Chelsey Lockey (Eaton, Colo.) recorded 34 assists and libero Dana Axner (Dublin, Ohio) produced 16 digs.
| Place. Name (University and Years) | ASUN Career Digs |
| 1. Shelley Walroth (Jacksonville: 2006-09) | 2,456 |
| 2. Dana Axner (FGCU: 2018- | 2,094 |
| 3. Ann Mullins (Lipscomb: 2005-07) | 1,969 |
| 4. Nicole Baran (North Florida: 2009-12) | 1,900 |
| 5. Adriana Nieto (NJIT: 2015-18) | 1,878 |
FGCU will now turn its focus to its home opener Friday night at 7 p.m. against Buffalo as the Eagles host the Homewood Suites FGCU Invitational. The Eagles are scheduled to welcome both St. Francis (11 a.m.) and FAU (7 p.m.) on Saturday to conclude the invitational.
HOMEWOOD SUITES FGCU INVITATIONAL SCHEDULE
Fri: Sept. 16
11 AM St. Francis v. Buffalo
4 PM FAU v. St. Francis
7 PM Buffalo v. FGCU (Free magnets and poster night)
Sat: Sept. 17
11 AM St. Francis v. FGCU (Digs and donuts: free donuts to Dirty Birds while supplies last)
1 PM Buffalo v. FAU
7 PM FAU v. FGCU (Pack the Nest Night and Teacher Appreciation Night: Postgame meet and greet & pizza with coach Botsford and the team)
For complete coverage of the volleyball program, follow the Eagles on Twitter at @FGCU_VB, on Instagram at @FGCU_VB, on Facebook at /FGCUVolleyball and online at FGCUathletics.com. You can also sign-up to have news on FGCU volleyball or other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal – a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign – Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
COACH BOTSFORD
Matt Botsford finished his eighth season as head coach of the FGCU women’s volleyball program in 2021 after being hired on Feb. 10, 2014. In his tenure, Botsford-led teams have compiled a 191-62 (.755) record overall, including a 96-20 (.827) record in ASUN play. Including this past year’s unprecedented spring season, he has taken the program to heights it has not seen in the Division-I era (2007-present) – registering at least 20 wins in six of the past seven seasons and at least 10 wins in conference play every season. In 2018, he led the program to its first regular-season championship since 2012 (fourth overall) and its first-ever ASUN tournament title, NCAA tournament appearance, NCAA tournament win and victory over a ranked team. His first two campaigns resulted in ASUN regular season runner-up finishes, and the following two saw the Eagles advance to the tournament championship. Now, the team has won four-straight regular season titles, including two ASUN Tournament Championship Titles. On Sept. 10, 2016, Botsford led his team to a five-set win over Indiana in Alico Arena, which signified the program’s first-ever win over a team from a Power-5 conference. In 2018, he also led the team to a win over Miami (Fla.) – the program’s first-ever road Power 5 win, and the Eagles followed that up with a straight-set win over the Hurricanes at a neutral site in 2019. In 2021, Botsford led the Eagles to 27 victories, tying the program record previously set in 2016, 2018 and 2019 seasons, and a NCAA First Round win over Texas Tech. The win over the Red Raiders marked the second NCAA First Round win for the Green and Blue following its 3-2 win over No. 13 UCF in Orlando in 2018.
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics’ charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 92 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 10 plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 45 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men’s golf team became the first program to earn at at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women’s basketball (No. 20, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men’s soccer (2018, 2019) and women’s soccer (2018) as four of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors’ Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA’s Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 26 consecutive semesters. In five of the past six semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2021), the Eagles reached another milestone as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA in each. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
