Nov. 2, 2004

Florida Atlantic University's volleyball team can claim a no. 1 seed at the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament with one win over this weekend's A-Sun opponents Stetson and Jacksonville. The Owls lead both all-time series and defeated Stetson 3-0 earlier this season.

The Hatters (8-11, 4-5 A-Sun) will visit Boca Raton on Friday night at 7 pm after coming off of possibly their biggest win in program history last weekend. The squad defeated UCF for the first time in 38 meetings. In order to reach the conference tournament the team needs a win over Florida Atlantic.

Kira Smedley leads the team with 264 kills, which places her fourth in the conference. Her .238 hitting percentage and 215 digs makes her tops on the team. Rachel Miller and Melissa Muller share the setting duties. Miller, a freshman from Longwood, FL, leads the team and conference with 0.56 service aces per game.

The squad could tie its longest winning streak of the season of three matches when it faces Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday night before traveling to FAU.

Saturday night at 7 pm, FAU will host Jacksonville University. The Dolphins hold a 9-11, 6-2 record before facing Savannah State on Tuesday. JU is assured a spot at the A-Sun Tournament but is fighting for the no. 3 seed.

The Dolphins started the season 0-8 but are 9-3 in the last half of the season.

Named to the A-Sun All-Freshmen Team last year, Eva Stoilova leads the team with 188 kills (3.13 kills/game) and a .206 hitting percentage. One of two seniors on the squad, Kelly Ryals has tallied 243 digs on the year as the libero, while junior Danielle Neville leads the conference with 1.11 blocks per game and has shutdown opponents 73 times this year.

The Owls are currently undefeated in conference play and hold the program's winningest record in Division I history with a 19-4, 8-0 A-Sun record.

Iana Andonova leads the conference in kills with 392 (4.56 kills/game) and hitting percentage at .364.

Libero, Makra Condill is second in the A-Sun with 4.47 digs per game. FAU's averages 1.5 digs and 2.9 kills per game more than its opponents.

Junior Courtenay Kiebert continues to run the offense and has 895 assists, which ranks her eighth in FAU single season stats.