Monday, October 24, 2005

Belmont Bruins

The Bruins posted a 1-2 mark this week, having their season-long seven-game winning streak snapped. Belmont then hosted a pair of conference matches over the weekend. After suffering their first conference loss, the team bounced back to sweep ETSU and move to 6-1 in the A-Sun. Senior Lindsay Cleveland led the team with 49 kills for the week. Sara Jacobson led the team with 17.0 blocks for the week, including 9.0 in the match against Florida Atlantic. The team travels to Western Kentucky for a non-conference match Tuesday.

Campbell Camels

The Camels continue to struggle having dropped seven-straight matches and have now lost 15-of-17 Atlantic Sun matches. Campbell takes almost two weeks off from A-Sun play. First they travel to UNC Wilmington and Charleston Southern on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, and then host North Carolina A&T next week.

East Tennesee State Bucaneers

The Lady Bucs started the week strong once again, with a 3-1 win over Radford on Tuesday. However, ETSU's road woes continued over the weekend, as the Lady Bucs dropped A-Sun matches to Lipscomb and Belmont. Jennifer Sartor led the team with 43 kills and 36 digs on the week. Brittany Kessel starred in the win over Radford, posting her first career triple-double with 12 kills, 26 assists, and 13 digs. ETSU begins a four-game home stand this week beginning with High Point on Wednesday, Mercer on Friday, and Stetson on Saturday.

Florida Atlantic Owls

The team broke the FAU Division I win record with its 22nd victory of the season. The old record of 21 was set in 2004. Kelly Paiva led the team for the week with two double-doubles. She averaged 6.62 kills per game and added five service aces and 30 digs. Against Belmont Paiva posted her fifth 30-kill match of the season finishing with 33 kills to hand Belmont its first loss in A-Sun play. FAU heads to Jacksonville to face UNF and Jacksonville this weekend in A-Sun play.

Gardner-Webb Bulldogs

The Lady Bulldogs dropped matches to Charleston Southern, North Florida and Jacksonville last week. Carrie Brinkley turned in seven aces to run her season total to 51 while Audra Harrison scooped up 40 digs for a clip of 4.44 digs per game. Gardner-Webb will only play once this week, traveling to Georgia State for a 7 pm match on Tuesday.

Jacksonville Dolphins

The Dolphins extended their Atlantic Sun Conference winning streak to 14 straight matches with a 3-1 win over ETSU. Katie Hendrian came off the bench to record a season-high 16 kills and 12 digs against USF on Sunday.

Lipscomb Bisons

The Lady Bisons have clinched a berth in the Atlantic Sun Conference Volleyball Tournament for the first time in the history of the program. The Lady Bisons have 10 victories, also a first for the program. Cara Wilber was the most consistent player for the Lady Bisons with three double-doubles in a 2-1 week. Wilber posted a match-high 21 kills and added 10 digs in a 3-1 home match A-Sun victory over ETSU.

Mercer Bears

Mercer volleyball earned its first Atlantic Sun Conference victory of the season with a 3-0 win over Stetson in the University Center Saturday. Julie Darty pounded out a match high 17 kills with just one error on 27 attacks, giving her an incredible .593 hitting percentage for the match. Mercer travels to Johnson City, Tenn., for another crucial A-Sun match against East Tennessee State on Friday, Oct. 28, at 7 p.m.

UNF Ospreys

The UNF volleyball team kept its conference title hopes alive in its final A-Sun road swing of the year over the weekend, sweeping Gardner-Webb and Campbell 3-0 to stay a game back of the conference lead. UNF is tied with Belmont for third place and trails conference leaders JU and Florida Atlantic by a game in the loss column heading into their final two weeks of conference play. UNF will play host to Florida Atlantic this Thursday and then face Belmont and Lipscomb next week to round out their first season of A-Sun play.

Stetson Hatters

The Hatters have won four of their last five matches overall. Stetson has one conference match left and will likely have to defeat ETSU and get additional help to qualify for its first A-Sun tournament since 1995. Senior DeeAnn Dempsey moved into second-place all-time in school history in kills and became just the second Hatter to record at least 1200 career kills. Dempsey ranks second in the A-Sun in kills-per-game (3.97). Melissa Muller leads the A-Sun in aces-per-game (0.51) and Karla Readshaw ranks third in aces-per-game (0.45).