Sept. 27, 2004

Florida Atlantic University's volleyball team enters the week with a 9-2 record and will face in-state rival Florida International on Wednesday at 7 pm before opening Atlantic Sun Conference play on Saturday against Troy University at 7 pm.

In two meetings last season, the Golden Panthers defeated the Owls, but FAU holds the overall advantage against its future Sun Belt opponent 18-13. FIU (1-10) has struggled early in its schedule and opened conference play last weekend. The squad's only win came against Southeastern Louisiana on September 11 when they defeated the Lions 3-1 in Miami.

Freshman Dyionna Smith runs the Florida International offense. Her favorite target has become Anna Dmowska who leads with team with 99 kills. Looking for the right lineup, seven players average over 1.5 digs per game with Alyse Santisi leading the way with 99 digs (2.91 per game).

With a conference championship in mind, FAU opens A-Sun play on Saturday against Troy University. Troy advanced to the A-Sun Tournament last season as the no. 6 seed. Troy (3-10, 0-1 A-Sun) will play UCF on Friday night before traveling to Boca Raton on Saturday. FAU holds a 10-2 series advantage over the Trojans and has won the last nine meetings.

The Trojans are led by Amy Brisbin with 126 kills (3.07 per game) with freshman Eliza Zwettler running the offense with 346 assists. Bridget Reidy leads the team defensively with 122 digs.

The Owls are coming off of a 3-1 weekend at the UNCG Tournament where Iana Andonova and Kelly Paiva were named to the All-Tournament Team. Andonova had a career-high 30 kills against UNC Asheville as the team won the match 3-2.