Box Score (.pdf)

Fort Myers, Fla. – Olivia Mesner led all players with 14 kills as Florida Gulf Coast defeated USC Upstate 3-0 Saturday evening in A-Sun volleyball competition from Alico Arena.

Upstate falls to 10-17 on the season and 1-10 in league play, while FGCU improves to 17-9 overall and 10-2 in the A-Sun.

Kayla McAvoy and Kayla Eversgerd both registered a team-high eight kills for the Spartans as Eversgerd also had 10 digs defensively. Emily Koelling and Shannon Weiss had seven and six kills, respectively, while Lexi Gober dished out 27 assists.

Mesner was one of three Eagles to finish with double-digit kills as Jessica Barnes added 11 and Mackenzie Allen 10. Gigi Meyer contributed 46 assists and Whitney Masters poured in a match-high 17 digs.

Weiss got the match started with her service ace as Upstate split the first six points with Florida Gulf Coast before the Eagles scored two in a row to go ahead 5-3. After Eversgerd cut the FGCU lead to 6-5 with her kill, Florida Gulf Coast went on an 8-3 run to lead 14-6 as Lauren Tutwiler and Eleonora Kazarian teamed up for a block. The Spartans managed to trim their deficit to five, 14-9, after capitalizing on a setting error by Meyer, but would not get closer as the Eagles followed by scoring the next five points to stretch their lead to 19-9. Two Upstate errors provided Florida Gulf Coast the 25-14 win in set one.

The second set opened with both teams trading the opening 18 points as the Spartans led by two, 6-4, during that run. An attack error by Dominique Arnold would even the score at 9-9. The Eagles broke the set open midway after putting together a 10-3 run as a kill by Allen made it 19-12. Upstate fought back with a 7-3 run of its own to cut the FGCU lead to 22-19 after a kill from McAvoy and two Eagle errors. Eversgerd got the Spartans to within two at 24-22, but Mesner would win the set for Florida Gulf Coast on the next play for a 25-22 triumph.

The Eagles recorded the first three points of the third set and later led 6-3 on a service error by Gober. Upstate answered with three consecutive points to even the score, but FGCU took the lead back after back-to-back kills by Kazarian and Barnes. After a kill from Weiss equaled the score again at 9-9, the teams exchanged the next eight points. Neither squad led by more than two during the midway portion until the Eagles took a 21-18 advantage on Mesner's kill. Facing set and match point at 24-22, the Spartans scored the next two on a kill by Weiss and an error by Barnes to send the frame into extra points. FGCU captured the set 26-24 as Barnes and Kazarian both picked up kills to give the Eagles a 3-0 victory in the match.

Upstate returns to the court tomorrow afternoon when it heads to Stetson for a 1:30 p.m. match.

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