Monday, October 31, 2005

Belmont Bruins

The Bruins took a break from conference action this week, traveling to Western Kentucky in search of the program's first win against the Lady Toppers. The team fell short, falling 3-0. Sara Jacobson hit.500 in the match, collecting 10 kills and led all players with 3.0 blocks. The Bruins travel to Clarksville, Tenn. Tuesday for a rematch against Austin Peay before heading to Jacksonville this weekend to finish their conference schedule against the Jacksonville Dolphins and the University of North Florida.

Campbell Camels

Campbell has now dropped nine-consecutive matches dating back to a 3-0 loss to Belmont on October 7. Rachel Templin had a dominating week blasting an average of 5.43 kills per game. The Camels are still eligible for a berth in the Atlantic Sun Championships with a Mercer loss to Gardner-Webb and a 3-0 victory over Mercer. Campbell hosts North Carolina A&T in a non-conference match on Tuesday and then travels to Mercer for the all-important match on Saturday.

East Tennesee State Bucaneers

The Lady Bucs notched their eighth-consecutive home win on Tuesday with a 3-0 rout over High Point. ETSU out-hit the Panthers .430 to .116, with four Lady Bucs swinging .500 or better for the match. ETSU saw its home winning streak come to an end on Friday night, with a tough 3-1 loss to Conference foe Mercer. Jennifer Sartor led the way for the Lady Bucs with a match-best 17 kills. The Lady Bucs rebounded from the loss with a 3-0 win over Stetson.

Florida Atlantic Owls

FAU claimed its second consecutive A-Sun Title with wins over North Florida and Jacksonville. Kelly Paiva averaged 6.67 kill per game and 7.00 points per game. The senior committed only 10 errors in 109 attempts and finished with a .275 hitting percentage. She also added 15 digs and four blocks for the week. Setter Casey LaRocca averaged 12.67 assists per game to help the team to a .215 hitting percentage. The Owls will head to Florida International this week before hosting ETSU on Saturday in the final home match of the season.

Gardner-Webb Bulldogs

The Gardner-Webb volleyball team played just one non-conference match this past week, falling in straight sets at Georgia State. The schedule will pick back up this week as the Lady Bulldogs will play at Mercer on Wednesday before hosting Providence, North Carolina A&T and Lenoir-Rhyne in this weekend's Runnin' Bulldog Classic.

Jacksonville Dolphins

After getting off to a 1-9 start, Jacksonville pulled within one game of .500 after sweeping Bethune-Cookman in three on Wednesday night at Swisher Gymnasium. The Dolphins fell in the A-Sun Match of the Week to FAU 3-0, dropping down to 6-1 in the conference standings. The Dolphins are back in action on Friday, Nov. 4, when they face Belmont at 7:30 p.m. in another key A-Sun match.

Lipscomb Bisons

Alex Scruggs finished last week with a .464 hitting percentage as the Lady Bisons finished 1-1 with a 3-1 win over Tennessee Tech and a 3-0 loss at MTSU. The Lady Bisons close out the home portion of the schedule this week when Tennessee State, the top team in the OVC, visits Allen Arena. The Lady Bisons lost 3-2 to TSU Sept. 20. The Lady Bisons have won 11 matches, a school record.

Mercer Bears

Mercer has found a groove at the right time in the season. The Bears have won back-to-back conference matches and four matches overall. Mercer closes out the 2005 regular season with matches against Gardner-Webb on Tuesday and Campbell on Saturday. The Bears need a victory in either match to clinch their third consecutive bid to the A-Sun tournament. Gardner-Webb and Mercer get rolling at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, then the Bears close out the season with senior day at 2 p.m. against Campbell.

UNF Ospreys

With UNF's next win, the Lady Ospreys will guarantee a winning record in 2005. The program has never finished with a losing record in 15 seasons of competition. With six matches remaining, UNF needs to go undefeated to keep alive its streak of seven consecutive seasons with at least 20 wins. UNF has won 65 of its last 67 conference matches overall and had won 51 consecutive home conference matches dating back to 1996 before losing to FAU at home on Thursday. Since opening the season 3-6, the Lady Ospreys have won 11 of 14 matches.

Stetson Hatters

Senior DeeAnn Dempsey needs 27 digs to become the seventh player in school history with 1000 career digs. She would also become the fourth player with 1000 career kills and 1000 career digs. She will be playing in her 100th career match on Saturday against Bethune-Cookman … Among A-Sun statistical leaders, Dempsey ranks second in the A-Sun in kills-per-game (3.93) ... Melissa Muller leads the A-Sun in aces-per-game (0.49) … Karla Readshaw ranks fourth in aces-per-game (0.45) and sixth in assists-per-game (9.15) … Liz Gorski ranks 10th in digs-per-game (3.31).