Just over a week ago, the Florida Gulf Coast volleyball team was huddled in the middle of Alico Arena, hoisting an ASUN conference championship trophy.
"I can't even put this feeling into words, honestly," said Skylar English, FGCU senior and ASUN tournament MVP. "Four years in a row. That's history right there."
The Eagles secured their fourth consecutive ASUN tournament championship, clinching an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. Fast forward a week, and the Eagles heard their name called on ESPN's Selection Sunday.
"Probably the most fun as a coach is to be able to sit there with your team and wait for your name to get called and watching their reactions," said FGCU head volleyball coach Matt Botsford. "I'm always happy for the seniors as they're going out the right way, but the ones that are doing this and having no idea what to expect, looking at their faces, that's the real part."
"Walking into practice today, I think it's set in like we're ready and we're ready to put in the work to prepare," said Raegan Richardson, FGCU freshman.
The Eagles are about to take flight this week for the first round of the NCAA tournament, heading to Salt Lake City, Utah to face fifth-seeded Marquette.
"We just watched film, and now we're ready to just go in and apply everything," added Richardson.
"We know we're going to play big physical teams in the NCAA tournament," said Botsford. "We've got to be able to manage the net, and our serve and pass game has got to be really good if we're going to be effective."
They have been pretty effective. The Eagles are fifth in the country in team service aces and hold a 27-4 record, winning 19 of their last 20 matches.
"We kind of have to have the mindset of, 'yes, we did that. That was our goal. Now we're kind of on to the next thing,'" said FGCU sophomore Shanelle Puetz.
FGCU and Marquette have only seen each other one time back in September of 2013. The Golden Eagles got that victory 3-0 at Alico Arena, but FGCU's Eagles say they've got everything they need to come out on top this time.
"I love how trustworthy we are with each other and our connection," said Puetz. "Our culture is very good this year, so just that on and off the court just feels really good."
"We know [Marquette is] obviously a really good program," said Botsford. "A lot of success, but I think we'll be fine. We just got to make sure that we fine tune the things that we do well and try to lean on that."
The battle between FGCU and Marquette goes down this Thursday, December 5 at 6:30pm EST.