Atlantic Sun Championship
- Nov. 16-18, 2017
- Nashville, Tennessee
- Tournament Central
Regular season champion Kennesaw State won its first ever Atlantic Sun Tournament Championship title with a sweep of No. 3 seeded Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday. With the win, the Owls earn the program’s first ever NCAA Tournament berth.
MATCH STATS
- Kennesaw State def. FGCU 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-17)
- Kennesaw State moves to 21-4, earns Atlantic Sun Conference Championship and the league’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament
- Box Score
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Kennesaw State will make its NCAA Tournament debut in 2017 thanks to a sweep of Florida Gulf Coast in the Atlantic Sun Championship match Saturday night.
“This is a feeling that as a coach you imagine, but until you get here it’s hard to describe all the different emotions that are running through my mind,” head coach Keith Schunzel said on ksuowls.com. “From the incredible amount of hard work that our players and staff have put into this thing, to all of the support staff that has sacrificed so much time to make our program better. I think about all of the alumni that were here tonight because they are big part of this too and the many alums who worked so hard to get this program to this moment.”
The win extends Kennesaw State’s current win streak to 12 matches heading into the NCAA Tournament.
Key Stats: The back-to-back A-Sun regular season champs outdid FGCU in every statistical category, dominating the offensive side of the ball by outhitting the Eagles .244 to .149 and racking up 49 kills to 36. The Owls also won the block (9-6) and outseved their foes 2-1.
Key Players: Redshirt junior opposite Anaiah Boyer paced KSU with a 12-kill, 13 dig double-double wto go with a team-high four blocks. Senior middle Rachel Taylor added eight kills, while hitting an errorless .615 clip (8-0-13) and adding four stuffs. Seven players notched five or more kills for the Owls and four also managed four blocks. Defensively, senior libero Katarina Morton led the way with 21 digs, followed by Boyer and senior setter Kristi Piedimonte (11).
Junior outside Amanda Carroll downed a match-high 15 kills and added a team-best 15 digs for FGCU. Freshman outside Snowy Burnam followed with eight kills, eight digs and a team-best five blocks, while freshman outside Cortney Vanliew added five putaways. junior libero Karissa Rhoades joined Carroll with double-digit digs, notching 12 saves.
It Was Over When: Kennesaw State raced out to an 11-4 lead in Set 3. Six players notched kills in the opening run and the team racked up a trio of blocks. FGCU would get no closer than four the rest of the way. The Owls led by as many as 11 at 23-12 as Boyer and Jones turned in kills. The Eagles scored five of the next six, thwarting three KSU match-point tries, before Lauren Chastang downed the final kill.
How They Got There: FGCU advanced to the championship with wins over USC Upstate (3-0) and No. 2 seed Jacksonville (W 3-0).
Kennesaw earned a bye to the semifinals and topped Lipscomb (3-1) to make its second straight championship appearance.
Atlantic Sun All-Tournament Team
- Anaiah Boyer, Kennesaw State – ASUN Championship MVP
- Kristi Piedimonte, Kennesaw State
- Katarina Morton, Kennesaw State
- Liesl Engelbrecht, Kennesaw State
- Amanda Carroll, FGCU
- Snowy Burnam, FGCU
- Carlyle Nusbuam, Lipscomb
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy: Kennesaw State Athletics
Kennesaw State punched its ticket in the NCAA Tournament after defeating FGCU in straight sets in the ASUN Championship.
It’s the first time in Kennesaw State volleyball history they have won the ASUN Tournament.
Anaiah Boyer was named ASUN Tournament MVP and Kristi Piedimonte, Liesl Engelbrecht and Katarina Morton were all on the All-Tournament Team.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
In the first set, there wasn’t much separation for either team, but the Owls found themselves trailing by two at 17-15. FGCU had been perfect on the attack at that point, but they made their first hitting error of the match to tie the score at 17.
FGCU inched back ahead 20-19, but out of a timeout, the Owls went on a 4-0 run to go up 23-20.
Leading 23-22, Kennesaw State got a huge sideout on a backrow kill from Maddie Jones to get two set points. The Owls cashed in on their second set point on a beautiful kill from Liesl Engelbrecht.
In the second set, KSU got off to a good start leading 5-2, but both teams traded blows back and forth until the Owls used a 5-1 run late in the set to go up 22-18.
The Eagles ran off three straight points to get back within one, but KSU won three of the final four points to go up 2-0 in the match.
With a championship in their grasp, the Owls poured it on the in third set. They raced out to an 11-4 lead and then doubled up FGCU at 18-9.
It took them four match points, but Lauren Chastang rifled a kill for the second night in a row on match point to clinch the ASUN Championship.
SCHUNZEL QUOTE:
“This is a feeling that as a coach you imagine, but until you get here it’s hard to describe all the different emotions that are running through my mind. From the incredible amount of hard work that our players and staff have put into this thing, to all of the support staff that has sacrificed so much time to make our program better. I think about all of the alumni that were here tonight because they are big part of this too and the many alums who worked so hard to get this program to this moment.”
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
· This was the first ASUN Tournament Championship the Owls have won in program history. The first year of the program was 2006.
· Over the last three years, Kennesaw State is 58-24 overall and will now add an ASUN Tournament Championship to its back-to-back ASUN Regular Season Championships.
· The middle blockers were massive all tournament for the Owls and that wasn’t any different tonight. Engelbrecht and Rachel Taylor both combined for 14 kills and eight blocks with zero hitting errors.
· The win was the 12th in a row for Kennesaw State, matching their longest win streak in program history.
UP NEXT
Kennesaw State will wait to find out where they will be going in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, November 26 during the selection show at 9 p.m.
Courtesy: FGCU Athletics
In a tightly contested three-set match, the #3 FGCU volleyball team fell to #1 Kennesaw State in the ASUN Championship Final on Saturday night at Allen Arena. The Eagles fought the entire way, but ended up dropping the match 25-23, 25-22, and 25-17 in a 3-0 sweep.
FGCU finishes its season 22-10 overall. It was the second ASUN Championship runner-up finish for the program.
ASUN Player of the Year Amanda Carroll led with a match-high 15 kills and a team-high 15 digs. It was her second double-double of the tournament, her 15th of the year and the 41st of her career. She averaged 17.3 digs per match during the tournament. ASUN Freshman of the Year Snowy Burnamfinished the match with eight kills and eight digs and posted an impressive defensive performance with five blocks. Cortney VanLiew had the second highest hitting percentage of the match of .385 with five kills. Maggie Rick(Alpharetta, Ga./Blessed Trinity Catholic HS) dished out 32 assists.
The first set was the closest of the match as it was a back-and-forth battle from both squads. KSU got on the board first 5-4 and continued to strike, but a kill from Burnam (Palm City, Fla./Jensen Beach HS) would tie it up at five points apiece. Carroll (Albuquerque, N.M./Sandia HS) sprung to life attacking wise with six kills in the first, but FGCU couldn’t match the Owls’ .302 hitting percentage and dropped the first set 25-23.
“I was really pleased with the way we came out and opened up the match,” FGCU head coach Matt Botsford said. “I thought the first set was really competitive and we were seeing some things we thought we could utilize and put us in position to win offensively.”
Momentum carried into the second set for the Owls, as they jumped out to a 4-1 early lead, but VanLiew (Seymour, Ind./Columbus East HS) and Carroll each slammed one home to strike back for the Eagles. Carroll added six of her 15 kills, and Burnam tacked on three more for FGCU. With what seemed to be an endless amount of tie scores and lead changes, the Owls pushed forward through FGCU’s blocking and defense to take the second 25-22.
“Ultimately we just couldn’t get the stops we needed,” Botsford said. “Kennesaw’s offense was firing, and then when you get to the third set their blocks started to work, which was really the difference. The defense and blocking made it difficult for our hitters heading into the third set and we couldn’t extend the match.”
Kennesaw State’s strongest set opened with an 11-4 margin. The Green and Blue tried to hold on with every point, but couldn’t hit around the Owls’ impressive 16 blocks. FGCU would try to make an immense comeback with four points in a row late in the set, but KSU denied the Eagles’ hopes of the title with one last kill to take the crown 25-17.
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