Oct. 31, 2003

Florida Atlantic University held a 7-1series advantage over Mercer University entering Friday's night match. The Bears proved to be too much for the Owls to handle as they pulled off the 3-2 victory for their first win over FAU since 1997. The Owls compiled a season-high 16 blocks and recorded more kills and digs than their opponents but Mercer managed to pull out the 30-26, 30-28, 15-30, 21-30, 15-12 win.

Mercer (10-15, 5-2 A-Sun) trailed early in every game but used smart attacking in games one and two to take a 2-0 advantage. FAU controlled the match in games three and four after jumping off to an 11-1 start behind the serving of Lauren McHugh (Lighthouse Point, FL). McHugh and outside hitter Abby Miner. Both finished with a match-high three service aces.

Game four was tight with the game tied at 18-18 before FAU (11-12, 5-2 A-Sun) went on a five-point run. Mercer only mustered three more points before FAU closed out the game. The Owls picked up eight blocks in game four. Janelle Sarauw (St. Thomas, V.I.) played a huge part in the defense as she finished with a career-high eight blocks.

Trailing 11-9 in game five, Mercer went on a four-point run as Jennifer Smith picked up two of her match-high 21 kills. The Owls picked up their final point on a Iana Andonova kill and saw the Bears finish out the match on a Jackie Viren kill on an overpass.

Cayse Kaveny (Cupertino, CA) finished with 18 kills in 31attempts for the Owls for a .452 hitting percentage. The defense was led by setter Jeana Boyle (Boca Raton, FL) who added 15 digs to her 53 assists.

Katie Plummer picked up an impressive 22 digs for Mercer and Catie Clemens ran the offense and dished out 55 assists.

Florida Atlantic will honors its seniors on Saturday afternoon in a 2 pm meeting with Georgia State University in FAU Gymnasium. GSU suffered its first conference loss on Friday evening at the hands of UCF.