FGCU Volleyball eyeing history in third straight NCAA Tournament appearance

The dancing shoes are on for FGCU Volleyball. For the third straight year, the Eagles are in the NCAA Tournament, which begins Thursday night.

“It feels great,” FGCU Volleyball head coach Matt Botsford said. “Three in a row is a pretty special accomplishment. I’m really excited for these girls. They put a lot of hard work into this. So this is the payoff – an opportunity to go and do it on a national stage.”

FGCU punched its ticket to the big dance after winning the ASUN Tournament. The title capped off a historic regular season for the Eagles. Botsford’s squad went 26-6 overall, only lost one match in conference play, and won the conference regular season title. However, all of those accomplishments are null and void now. When the NCAA Tournament starts, every team has a clean slate and is 0-0.

The Eagles match up with a Sunshine State foe in the NCAA Tournament First Round. FGCU will take on fourth-seeded Florida. The Gators are currently ranked 20th in the country.

“When you get to the tournament, every team in there is really good,” FGCU setter Lily Tessier said. “It’s more about outcome and performance. You have to bring your best game.”

Lucky for the Eagles, they’ve been playing their best volleyball as of late. After starting the season 7-5, FGCU has won 19 of its last 20 matches and performed the best it has all season in the ASUN Tournament according to its head coach.

“This conference tournament was the best volleyball we’ve played all year,” Botsford said. “What a perfect time for it.”

Florida is a formidable foe. The Gators are 18-9 and have beaten the Eagles in all three of the schools’ previous matchups. Despite that, FGCU isn’t afraid of their opponent.

“We’re going in there knowing — okay, these are their weaknesses, these are our weaknesses,” FGCU middle blocker Juliana Lentz said. “What are we going to do to better our weaknesses and attack their weaknesses?”

“We don’t just want to get to the tournament each year,” Tessier said. “We want to make a run. We definitely want to beat Florida.”

Winning in the NCAA Tournament isn’t foreign to FGCU. The Eagles have won their opening-round match in two of their three NCAA Tournament appearances. They almost won last year’s match too, but ultimately fell 3-2 to Iowa State. So, getting out of the first round has been done, but Botsford’s teams haven’t gotten over the second-round hump yet — something this year’s team is determined to do.

“It’s going to happen at FGCU Volleyball,” Botsford said. “It’s a matter of when. So, these girls would love to do that – to win two matches in the NCAA Tournament. So, we’ll start with one and go from there, but we’re excited about the opportunity.”

FGCU and Florida square off from Gainesville in the NCAA Tournament First Round on Thursday night at 7 p.m.