Friday, October 30, 2009

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Oct. 30, 2009) - The ETSU volleyball team was swept by Florida Gulf Coast Friday night at Alico Arena in Fort Myers, Fla., 3-0 (15-25, 27-29, 14-25).

Erin Ryan (Davie, Fla.) led the Bucs offensively with nine kills on the night. Whitney Cogburn (Kingsport, Tenn.) posted eight kills and eight digs, while McKayla Barber (Columbus, Ind.) had six kills hitting .417 in the match.

Amanda Youell (Middleburg, Fla.) ran the ETSU offense as she tallied 33 assists and six digs. Sophomore Jen Neice (Allen, Texas) led ETSU defensively with ten digs.

The Eagles jumped out to an 11-3 lead in the first set. ETSU rallied to cut the FGCU lead to 15-9, but the Eagles went on an 8-3 run to take a 23-12 advantage. Florida Gulf Coast took the set 25-15 on a Jacqueline Cowden kill to go up 1-0 in the match.

In the second set, play was back and forth as there were 16 ties and nine lead changes in the set. The Bucs had a 9-6 advantage early but the Eagles took four-straight points to go ahead 11-10. ETSU grabbed a 27-26 lead late in the set, but FGCU took three-straight points to take the set 29-27 and a 2-0 lead into the break.

The third set saw six ties early as both teams battled for the lead. With the score tied 7-all the Eagles got three-straight points to take a 10-7 lead. Later in the set FGCU went on an 11-0 run to extend its lead to 24-12. The Eagles took the set on an ETSU service error, 25-14.

The Bucs (8-16, 6-9 A-Sun) head to DeLand, Fla. to take on Stetson on Saturday at 4 p.m. For more information on Buccaneer volleyball and all other Buccaneer athletic news, please visit www.ETSUBucs.com.