Monday, August 08, 2005

Macon, Ga. - Florida Atlantic received eight of a possible 10 first place votes and will enter 2005 as the preseason favorite to capture the Atlantic Sun volleyball crown.

The Owls won their second regular season title last year, but fell in the tournament semifinals. Head coach Jody Brown returns the 2004 A-Sun Player of the Year, Iana Andonova, who led the league in hitting percentage and kills. FAU also received the nod to win the 2005 tournament championship as well. Florida Atlantic won back-to-back tourney titles in 1998 and 1999 and is the only current member of the A-Sun to have captured multiple tournament titles.

Following closely behind FAU are both Belmont and Jacksonville who each received one first place vote. The Bruins return all six starters from last year's squad that won their most matches (21) since moving to Division I. Deane Webb, the 2004 A-Sun Coach of the Year, counts three all-conference and three all-freshman selections from last season on his roster paced by Freshman of the Year setter Colleen Nilson and outside hitter Lindsay Cleveland whose 4.25 kills per game were a big reason the Bruins led the league in kills. Defending tournament champ Jacksonville has five starters back after winning three matches in two days to earn the A-Sun's automatic bid into the NCAA Championship. Tournament MVP Lindsay Ward and first team All-Atlantic Sun choice Eva Stoilova will lead the attack for the second third straight season. The Dolphins finished the 2005 campaign as one of the hottest teams around, winning 15 of their final 21 matches including seven straight league contests.

Newcomer UNF ranked fourth, but the Ospreys are not eligible for the postseason tournament. Mercer, Campbell and ETSU take the next three positions. Only the league's top six teams qualify for the 2005 A-Sun Championship hosted by Belmont on November 18-19.

The 11-member league headquartered in Macon, Ga., consists of Belmont, Campbell, ETSU, Florida Atlantic, Gardner-Webb, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Mercer, North Florida and Stetson.

Tournament Champion: Florida Atlantic