Nov. 20, 2003

Florida Atlantic University heads into its eighth consecutive Atlantic Sun Tournament on Friday as the no. 5 seed in Orlando, FL. The Owls (12-15) will meet no. 4 Mercer (12-17) at 11 am in a rematch from October 31 when the Bears won a grueling five-game match. Fans can listen to FAU volleyball matches at www.wowl.fau.edu.

First Team All-Conference member Iana Andonova (Margate, FL) will lead FAU into the six-team, two-day tournament. With four matches scheduled for Friday, the championship match will follow on Saturday at 1 pm. FAU needs to beat Mercer and no. 1 UCF to advance to the finals for the first time since 2001.

In the regular season meeting on October 31 between FAU and Mercer, the Bears pulled out a five-game victory and defeated the Owls for the first time since 1995. The winner of the match will face Atlantic Sun Champion UCF at 5 pm to advance to the championship match.

Mercer enters the tournament after winning the last two matches in straight games against A-Sun foes, Gardner-Webb and Campbell. The Bears are led by Jennifer Smith's 319 kills and Katie Plummer's 383 digs.

Abby Miner (Largo, FL) received Second Team All-Conference honors after leading FAU with 335 kills, while setter Jeana Boyle (Boca Raton, FL) has posted 238 digs and 1007 assists.

The winner of the tournament receives the Atlantic Sun's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Schedule of Matches
Friday, November 21
M1-11 am, #4 Mercer vs #5 FAU
M2-1 pm, #3 Jacksonville vs #6 Troy State
M3-5 pm, #1 UCF vs winner of M1
M4-7 pm, #2 GSU vs winner of M2
Saturday, November 22
M5-1 pm, winner of M3 vs winner of M4