Zachary Gibbons

11/20/25

Fort Myers, Fla.—The No. 1 seed Florida Gulf Coast University volleyball team lost 3-2 to No. 8 seed University of North Florida at home at Alico Arena in the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship quarterfinal on Thursday, Nov. 20

FGCU won the first set 25-20 but dropped the next two 25-20 and 25-22. The Eagles recovered to take the fourth set 25-14.

In the fifth set tiebreaker FGCU took a 9-6 lead but UNF scored five straight points to take an 11-9 lead before the Eagles responded with a kill to make it 11-10. The Ospreys then scored three straight points to make it 14-10 before the Eagles got two points on bad set and an attack error by the Ospreys. UNF then took the final point on a kill.

Barbara Koehler finished with a double-double of 16 kills and 10 digs for the Eagles. Camila Soto had 10 kills and Catharina Scorza finished with nine kills. Julija Grubisic Cabo finished with 12 digs. Reese Burry had 11 digs, while Eliska Vytiskova and Barbara Koehler each finished with 10 digs.

Kailey McKnight led the Ospreys with 15 kills. Kendall Newbold had 12 kills, while Janelly Ceopa and Mackenzie Piester each finished with 11 kills. Sofia Dawson and Julianna Santiago had nine digs for UNF.

Personal Thoughts: FGCU volleyball is in a great spot looking toward the future despite the loss. The Eagles are in the start of a new era and replacing a head coach following the success Head Coach Matt Botsford had is never easy.

Coach Thais Baziquetto-Allen came into her first year with Eagles following success at Florida SouthWestern State College and that success continues at FGCU.

In her first season as head coach she managed to lead the Eagles to an Atlantic Sun Regular Season Championship. FGCU had six straight wins coming into the quarterfinal.

Let us also consider that the Eagles had beaten the Ospreys 3-1 and 3-0 in the regular season. Eventually the losing team is going to step up and say ‘Enough is enough’ and credit to the Ospreys they did just that.

Some players I look forward to watching in 2026 are libero Reese Burry, outside hitter Julija Grubisic Cabo and middle blocker Abby Tonieskoetter who will be entering their senior seasons and outside hitter Katie Gielas who will be entering her sophomore season.