Nov. 5, 2004

Final Stats

Florida Atlantic University secured a no. 1 seed at the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship with a 3-1 win over Stetson University Friday night at FAU Gym (30-21, 30-17, 27-30, 30-21). The Owls used 11 blocks and 68 kills to down the Hatters for the second time this season.

FAU (20-4, 9-0 A-Sun) dominated games one and two and never trailed until the third game when Stetson took a 4-3 lead on a Kira Smedley kill. Smedley finished the night with a team leading 19 kills and 13 digs. The two teams battled to a 25-25 tie before the Hatters went on a three-point run behind the serving of Liz Gorski. The Owls narrowed the lead to 28-27 but saw kills from DeeAnn Dempsey and Lindsey Combes push the match into a fourth game.

The Hatters (8-13, 4-6 A-Sun) kept the momentum and with the scored tied at three went on an 8-1 run to grab an 11-4 advantage. Florida Atlantic battled right back with seven straight points to tie at 11. The two teams traded points to 16-16 before a kill by setter Courtenay Kiebert opened up the game for good for the Owls at 17-16.

Iana Andonova led FAU with 23 kills. It was the seventh time this season she has posted over 20 kills in a match. Kelly Paiva and Cayse Kaveny both contributed 15 kills in the effort. Paiva closed out the match with a double-double by adding 10 kills and stopped with Stetson offense four times with a block.

Kiebert finished with 61 assists and helped guide FAU to a .267 hitting percentage. Rachel Miller and Melissa Muller shared setting duties for Stetson and both finished with 20 assists.

FAU will close out conference play on Saturday night when the team hosts Jacksonville at 7 pm.