Oct. 11, 2005

Returning home for two Atlantic Sun Conference matches this week, Florida Atlantic University will look to defend its 2004 Atlantic Sun Title as it takes on Gardner-Webb and Campbell. The teams will face the Owls on Friday and Saturday night at 7 pm, respectively.

Gardner-Webb will look to win its first A-Sun match when its takes on FAU. The Lady Bulldogs stand at 9-16, 0-4 A-Sun before taking on Charlotte on Tuesday night on the road. The squad has won two games against A-Sun opponents and was swept in its last two matches against Belmont and Lipscomb.

Audra Harrison leads the team with 274 kills and 372 digs. Carrie Brinkley runs the offense and averages 7.68 assists per game. With 41 service aces (0.44 aces per game), Brinkley is ranked third in the conference. The squad averages 1.86 aces per game with five players tallying over 20 aces. At the net, Deshay Duddy and Bethany Martin share the load with 48 and 46 blocks each.

FAU holds the 3-0 series advantage over GWU.

Campbell will play two matches before coming to Boca Raton on Saturday. The Camels host Virginia Commonwealth on Monday before traveling to Stetson on Friday for a conference match.

With an 8-14, 1-3 A-Sun record, the Camels have dropped their last two matches against conference opponents and have not defeated FAU since 2001.

Tabitha Turner leads the offense with 243 kills followed by Rachel Templin's 214 and .252 hitting percentage. Sarah Dillon runs the team and average 7.16 assists per game.

Templin is the heart of the defense with a conference leading 99 bocks. Crystal Sieber runs the back row with 293 digs.

Averaging 0.43 aces per game, Alissa Brackeen ranks fourth in the A-Sun.

Florida Atlantic (18-2, 2-0 A-Sun) leads the conference in hitting percentage (.260), opponent hitting percentage (.162), kills (15.40) and aces (2.11 per game). A big part of the success comes from individual efforts from Katie Arvidson, Kelly Paiva, Justine Petry and Casey LaRocca and Makra Condill.

Arvidson and Petry rank tops in hitting percentage with .346 and .331 clips, while Paiva averages 5.55 kills per game, over one kill more a game than the number two player. LaRocca does a great job distributing the ball and is rated number in with 12.12 assists per game.

Condill has served up 33 aces this season and ranks second behind Stetson's Melissa Muller with 0.45 aces per game.

Fans can watch live game action by visiting www.fausports.com and clicking on the live video link on the schedule page.