Volleyball wins 10 straight

The volleyball team is currently on a hot streak.

Coming off of two big road wins against Lipscomb and Northern Kentucky, the team has won 10 straight -- nine against the Atlantic Sun.

Prior to last week’s contest, the Bison hadn’t lost a conference match since 2008.  That all ended when the Eagles swept them (28-26, 25-22, 25-23). All without their head coach Dave Nichols who was suspended after a DUI arrest. Assistant coach Danny Mahy led FGCU in its biggest game of the year.

“In the Lipscomb game the team did really well.  We blocked really well, and we were efficient on our dynamics,” Mahy said. “We went in there with a game plan, and we executed well enough to come out with a victory.”

Coach Dave Nichols is very pleased by the team’s success.

“The significance is that we’re a very good team,” Nichols said. “I had said to the team all along that, player by player, we’re the best team in the league. What’s happened during this streak is that the girls have started cutting out their errors, and we’re playing much more intelligent volleyball.”

Nichols also feels that a bunch of tiny things have caused the streak.

“The main thing is we’re talented,” Nichols said. “We have good players but our floor defense has improved, and the connection between the centers and hitters has also improved.”

Nichols has emphasized the importance of maturity all season.

“It’s been remarkable,” Nichols said. “I think that the girls’ being able to keep their focus and handle all of the distractions of last week is a testament to how much they have matured.”

Even with the streak, Nichols does see room for improvement.

“We need to improve our serve-receive, and our blocking needs to be more consistent,” Nichols said. “If we do that it will help a great deal.”

Since the Lipscomb game was on Friday night and the Northern Kentucky game was on Saturday night, the team had a busy travel schedule.

“After our match in Nashville we bused 4 1/2 hours to Cincinnati,” Mahy said. “We did not get in until 3 a.m. That was kind of a tough road trip because Northern Kentucky kind of caught us off guard in the beginning, but then we adjusted and came out on top.”

Sophomore outside hitter Jill Hopper was recently named A-Sun Conference Player of the Week. She recorded 46 kills and 28 digs, averaged 4.18 kills per set and posted a hitting pct. of .327 for the week. 

“I think that everyone coming together and playing hard is the key,” Hopper said. “We had a couple of breakdowns but we come out with determination and ready to show our dominance in the A-Sun.”