FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU volleyball team has landed outside hitter Courtney Glotzbach as a transfer from Jacksonville State, head coach Matt Botsford announced Friday.
Glotzbach spent her last three seasons with the Gamecocks, tallying over 400 kills, over 200 digs and earning the 2020 Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year honor after leading JSU to its second straight conference title.
Glotzbach helped to lead the Gamecocks to two Power Five victories in 2022 over Indiana and Clemson, a 24-6 overall record, and a 12-4 mark in the ASUN Conference. Third-seeded JSU and its postseason run came to a halt in the ASUN Quarterfinals with a five-set loss to Kennesaw State.
“Having been across the net competing against Courtney, I can’t say enough about the type of volleyball player she is, and the impact she has out on the floor,” Botsford said. “She has such a good feel for the game, and an understanding of how to play both sides of the ball well. On top of being extraordinarily skilled, Courtney is also a focused competitor that understands what it takes to win at a high level. This is a great addition to our program, and I can’t wait to get her on campus.”
Glotzbach registered the fourth-most kills among any Gamecock last season with 236. She added 11 aces at the service line, and accumulated 169 digs on the defensive side of the ball.
In a lone regular-season defeat to FGCU, Glotzbach registered nine kills and eight digs. She posted 10-plus kills in seven matches a season ago, including a 16 against Auburn and tied a career high of 19 against Kennesaw State.
As a freshman in 2020, Glotzbach hit over .300 in 10 matches and posted a .400 hitting clip or better in six outings, while registering a career-high 17 kills at SIUE and at Morehead State. Glotzbach closed her freshman campaign with 166 kills, 26 digs, and 22 blocks. She would play in only four matches during her sophomore campaign before suffering a season-ending injury.
Glotzbach joins Iowa transfer setter Lily Tessier to keep The Nest strong for the upcoming 2023 season. FGCU also added three future Eagles as part of the 2023 signing class, as the Green & Blue continued to flex its pipeline muscle within the state of Indiana by picking up two from the Hoosier state — middle blocker Ella Chapman and outside hitter Ava Smith. The third signee, setter Shanelle Puetz, joins the Eagles from California.
The Eagles finished the 2022 campaign 26-7 and 13-3 in conference play en route to a second straight ASUN Tournament Championship for the first time in program history. FGCU would fall just three points shy of a reverse sweep of sixth-seeded Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament.
Botsford lead Eagles have posted 20-or-more wins in eight out of the last nine seasons, excluding 2020. Botsford is also the winningest coach in FGCU history and ranks 13th in the nation among all active DI coaches in career winning percentage at .761 percent, 210-66.
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COACH BOTSFORD
Matt Botsford completed his ninth season as head coach of the FGCU women’s volleyball program after being hired on Feb. 10, 2014. In his tenure, Botsford-led teams have compiled a 210-66 (.761) overall record, including a 109-23 (.826) mark in ASUN play. Botsford the winningest coach in FGCU history and ranks 13th in the nation among all active DI coaches in career winning percentage. He has taken the program to heights it has not seen in the Division-I era (2007-present), registering at least 20 wins in eight of the past nine seasons (excluding COVID 2020) and at least 10 wins in conference play every year. This season (2022), Botsford recorded his 200th career win at FGCU with a 3-0 sweep of Queens en route to back-to-back ASUN Tournament Titles and a third NCAA Tournament appearance. In 2018, he led the Eagles program to its first regular-season championship since 2012 and its first-ever ASUN Tournament Title, NCAA Tournament appearance, NCAA Tournament win and victory over a ranked team. His first two campaigns resulted in ASUN regular season runner-up finishes, and the following two saw the Eagles advance to the tournament championship. Now, FGCU has made seven straight ASUN title match appearances, won four-straight regular season titles (five total under Botsford), including capturing three ASUN Tournament Championship crowns. On Sept. 10, 2016, Botsford led the Eagles to a five-set win over Indiana in Alico Arena, which signified the program’s first-ever win over a team from a Power-5 conference. In 2018, he also led his squad to a win over Miami (Fla.) – the program’s first-ever road Power 5 win and the Eagles followed that up with a straight-set win over the Hurricanes at a neutral site in 2019. In 2021, the Green & Blue posted its best-ever RPI of 31 and tallied 27 victories, tying the program record previously set in 2016, 2018 and 2019 seasons, and notched a NCAA First Round win over Texas Tech. The win over the Red Raiders marked the second NCAA First Round win for the Eagles following its 3-2 win over No. 13 UCF in Orlando in 2018. Furthermore, FGCU has now been the home to the ASUN’s Player of the Year for the six consecutive season.
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal – a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign – Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics’ charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 95 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 47 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men’s golf team became the first program to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Nine FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport — including women’s basketball (No. 20 in 2021-22 and No. 23 in 2022-23), baseball (No. 24 in 2023), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men’s soccer (2018, 2019) and women’s soccer (2018) as four of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green & Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors’ Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA’s Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.66 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2022 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 27 consecutive semesters. The past seven semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
—FGCUATHLETICS.COM—
