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FORT MYERS, Fla. –The Jacksonville University volleyball team advanced to the Atlantic-Sun Conference Championship after defeating tournament host and two seeded FGCU in four sets; 25-16, 17-25, 25-21, and 25-21; 3-1. The Dolphins will take on Lipscomb tomorrow night at Alico Arena at 3 p.m. The Championship bout is available for viewing on ESPN3.com.

For the second-consecutive season, Jacksonville secures its spot in the A-sun Championship Matchup and will play no. one seeded Lipscomb. The Dolphins are winners of five-of-the-last-six games, including four-straight conference wins. Extremely balanced with contributions from all aspects, four players were in double-figures in kills and digs for the Green and Gold.

"This was a very solid team we played," said head coach Julie Darty. "FGCU doesn't make many mistakes. We knew there wasn't going to be room for mistakes so in the longer rallied sets, we had to outlast and outwork to get the point, but most of all outsmart. Not try to do too much physically, just had to play smarter. We wanted to build off the momentum from last night and we did that and turned it up a notch with the third and fourth set. (The team) wanted to win so bad, there was no other way to finish it." 

The fourth set would be a back and forth battle for the entirety until the Dolphins would reach its largest lead of the set at 23-19. Koop's ninth and 10th kill would lead to a 22-18 lead. After an Emily Laskelle kill got to 23-points, FGCU would battle, rattling off the next two points and after Laskelle provided the 24th point of the set, her 11th of the evening, the Eagles would knock the service into the net concluding the match. 

Atlantic-Sun Conference Player of the Year, Sammie Strausbaugh led the way with 19 kills, adding 12 digs for her eighth straight double-double. Sophomore Rachel Miller led all players with 23 digs, her 10th consecutive double-digit effort, sixth straight 20 plus performance. 

The A-Sun's regular season block leader, freshman Olga Nushtayeva tied her season-high eight blocks, while junior Jizzian Gesualdo had 44 assists, and 12 digs for her seventh double-double of the year. 

The Dolphins were in control out of the gate, rattling off a 12-7 lead early after block by Nushtayeva, kill by Strausbaugh, kill by Laskelle was the sequence to get it to 12. Nushtayeva had three blocks in the frame while the defensive effort combatted 44 attacks by the Eagles which had a .114 success-rate. Two-straight kills by Strausbaugh and a service ace by Gesualdo would amount to the sets largest lead and would conclude at 25-16.

A see-saw battle the third set was, the Dolphins would take control at 11 apiece. The largest lead was just four in the frame, and it was at 21-17 by JU. The Eagles would trim the deficit after a 3-1 run to 22-20 before back-to-back Dolphin blocks with Nushtayeva and Koop to 24, and Nushtayeva and Laskelle to close the door on the set 25-21.

In the second, the Dolphins came back early and tied it at eight apiece. Down 12-9, Laskelle would add touch at the net, eluding the blockers and trimming the deficit to two. FGCU would go on a 13-8 run on the way to knotting the match at one apiece.

Jacksonville volleyball will continue its quest for another A-Sun title when it will take on the Bisons of Lipscomb for the Championship in Fort Myers, Fla., Saturday at 3 p.m. 

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