The Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles will hit the road with games coming up against Stetson, Lipscomb and Northern Kentucky before returning home to Alico Arena on Nov. 7 against Kennesaw State.
This weekend’s action against Northern Kentucky University and Lipscomb University gave the Eagles a record of 13-8 with a 6-1 mark in Atlantic Sun play.
FGCU defeated Northern Kentucky University (26-24, 21-25, 27-25, 25-17) to improve its overall record to 13-8 and now have a 6-1 Atlantic Sun conference record.
Senior Olivia Mesner led the Eagle attack against NKU with 19 kills on 33 attempts for the night.
“It was good. It was important to us,” Olivia Mesner said.
FGCU started out hot against NKU, winning the opening three points. They were still leading NKU 11-8 at the first timeout. The Norse took their first lead of the set at 13-12 going into an Eagles timeout. The Eagles scored three of the next points to take a 16-14 lead. The Eagles held on to take set one 26-24 and a 1-0 lead in the match.
The Eagles started the second set by winning the opening four points. FGCU held a 6-1 lead heading into the first timeout of the set. The Morse then cut the gap to 12-9. The Eagles scored the next two points to give them a 14-9 advantage. NKU used a furious rally to tie the set up at 20-20. The Norse tied the match up at 1-1 by taking set two 25-21.
The Norse used the momentum from the second set to get a 10-6 lead on FGCU to begin set three. The Eagles struggled to get themselves back into the set. Finally, they cut the margin to 22-20 late and were pressing for more. The Eagles took a 2-1 lead in the match by winning set three 27-25.
“My hope is we make adjustments faster,” coach Matt Botsford said.
The Norse took an early 4-1 lead to begin set four. The Eagles scored the next three points to tie the set up at 4-4. The Eagles used the momentum to take an 11-8 lead into a NKU timeout. The Eagles continued to lead as the Norse called another timeout at 16-11 in set four. The Eagles took the set 25-17 and the match 3-1.
FGCU loses to Lipscomb, 3-1
The Eagles were defeated by Lipscomb University, 3-1, Friday night at Alico Arena. This dropped the Eagles to 12-8 on the season and 5-1 in the Atlantic Sun.
The Bisons produced seven aces with 11 service errors compared to the Eagles’ 13 service errors and just three aces on the night.
‘‘They served extremely well. We didn’t respond to their pressure,” Botsford said.
After the first 16 points of the set, it was tied 8-8. The Eagles took control, and the Bisons trailed 19-12 at one point of the set. The Bisons then closed the gap to 21-18, and the Eagles called a timeout. Despite a tremendous effort from the Bisons, FGCU held on to take the first set 25-23 and a 1-0 lead in the match.
‘We were very consistent in the first and second set. It was a fun game,” Gigi Meyer said.
The Eagles jumped off to a good start in the second set, leading 6-3. FGCU still led Lipscomb 13-8 when the Bisons called a timeout. Lipscomb then closed the gap to 15-13. FGCU was still leading the Bisons 19-15 late in the set. The Bisons knotted the score, 20-20. Lipscomb took the second set 26-24 to tie up the match at 1-1.
After 12 exhausting points, the third set was tied 6-6. Lipscomb then took a 9-6 lead as the Eagles called a timeout. At first, the Eagles were unable to get any momentum. Then, the Eagles knotted the set at 13-13 and later took a 16-15 lead in the set. The Bisons used an 8-1 run to take a 24-17 lead late in set three. The Eagles fell behind 2-1 after losing set three 25-19.
After the Eagles scored the opening point of the set, The Bisons continued to overwhelm the Eagles, taking an early 6-3 lead. Despite some amazing points, FGCU was still trailing 13-8, when Botsford took another timeout. Eventually, FGCU lost the fourth set 25-18 and the match 3-1