9/25/2009 - VOLLEYBALL Bucs Host Camels in A-Sun Volleyball Match of the Week

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Volleyball Weekly Release

MACON, Ga. - The Atlantic Sun Conference Volleyball Match of the Week features Campbell and ETSU, a pair of teams fairly even in conference play, at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, at Brooks Gymnasium in Johnson City, Tenn. The match airs on ASun.TV.

With three straight A-Sun wins, Campbell improved to 8-4 on the season with a 3-1 league record. The Camels’ 3-1 A-Sun start is their best since 2000, when CU went 5-1 to begin league play. The last time Campbell won three straight conference matches came in 2001, when the Camels took five in a row, including four regular-season matches and one A-Sun Tournament win. The streak was part of a 6-0 run from Nov. 2-16 of that year.

ETSU picked up two big conference wins this past weekend defeating Kennesaw State and Mercer on the road to move into third place in the Atlantic Sun. The Bucs secured the sixth spot on the 2009 Preseason Coaches Poll and have since improved to 5-7 on the season and 4-1 in the A-Sun. Last season, the Bucs took both matches with the Camels after ETSU won the lone contest between the two in 2007. Since the start of 2007, ETSU owns a 15-9 mark at Brooks Gymnasium.

The ETSU volleyball team picked up its second straight win as the Bucs swept the Mercer Bears Saturday afternoon at the University Center. Senior setter Amanda Youell quarterbacked the ETSU offense tallying 41 assists, seven digs and five blocks, while freshman Ashley Rosenboom led the Bucs defensively, collecting 13 digs on the day. Junior Erin Ryan tallied a team-high 13 kills against the Bears, while junior Whitney Cogburn and sophomore McK­ayla Barber also recorded double-digits kills. Cogburn posted 12 kills and Barber notched ten kills, hitting .471 in the match.

The Camels took a weekend sweep over two conference oppo­nents, Mercer and Kennesaw State, for the first time since 1998, when CU defeated Georgia State and Mercer on consecutive days, Nov. 6 and 7, of that year. Against Mercer and KSU on the road, senior middle blocker Ashley Weers committed just two errors on 52 attempts with 27 kills in seven sets. Weers also recorded 11 total blocks, 10 assisted and one solo, on her way to averaging a team-high 4.86 points per set on the weekend.

Players to Watch
* Ashley Weers, Campbell – T he Littleton, Colo. native is hitting .459 (64-8-122) over her last six matches, which include bouts with ACC foe Virginia, defending A-Sun Champions Florida Gulf Coast and in-state rival East Carolina. The senior also chipped in 3.20 kills and 1.25 blocks per set over that time. Weers' double-digit outing against ECU marks her ninth of the season, while Weers has notched eight multi-block matches. Weers has hit over .300 in 10 of her 13 matches this season, raising her effort to an A-Sun best .394, ranking 36th in the nation at the beginning of the week.

* Caitlin Bendy, Campbell – The junior middle blocker stands fourth on the conference's attack rate list, hitting .329 on the season, while ranking second in blocks with 1.09. Other Camels among the A-Sun's leaders are junior outside hitter Emily Werner (10th, kills per set, 2.68), sophomore setter Hope Leatigaga (sixth, assists per set, 7.69), and Sarah Hill (seventh, digs per set, 3.51).

* Amanda Youell, ETSU - The Bucs are led by Youell, who ranks second in the A-Sun with 450 assists. The Middleburg, Fla. native averaged 11.25 assists, one kill, one block and 1.75 digs per set as the Bucs went 2-1 on the week improving to 2-1 in conference. Against Appalachian State, Youell tallied her third double-double of the season, collecting seven kills, 44 assists, 11 digs and five blocks. Also against the Mountaineers, junior Erin Ryan led the Bucs offensively with a team-high 17 kills, while sophomore middle blocker McKayla Barber posted 11 kills, hitting .455 on the night. Junior setter Whitney Cogburn had a good all-around performance totaling nine kills, eight assists and ten digs, while junior outside hitter Desiree Dyck led the team defensively with nine kills and 15 digs.

Around the Sun – Volleyball
Belmont
* The Bruins are coming off a sweep of Stetson and a five-set loss to FGCU in Florida last weekend. Belmont handed the Eagles their first set loss in conference season last Friday before losing their third five-set match of the season * The Bruin defense held Stetson to just eight points in the first set on Saturday. It was the second time that Belmont held an op¬ponent to single-digit points this season.
* Megan Clements continues to lead the conference in total digs with a total of 216. The Indianapolis native is already approaching Belmont’s single-season record in digs of 537 held by Ashley Collier in 2005 and 2006. Clements had 20 digs at FGCU, mak¬ing it the 11th match of her career with 20 or more digs.
* Tara Blood paces the team in blocks with 35 (four solo, 31 assist). Blood set a career-high of seven blocks last Friday against FGCU, tying for third-most in the conference during a match.
* The Bruins will travel to face Chattanooga on Wednesday, a se¬ries which Belmont leads 3-2. The Bruins won last years meeting in three sets at the Curb Event Center. Belmont held a 7-1 record against teams from Tennessee last season.

Campbell
* The Camels had a pair of players average at least 3.00 kills and 1.00 blocks per set, as Ashley Weers posted 3.86 and 1.57, and Emily Werner tallied 3.00 and 1.00. Weers, a middle blocker, committed just two errors on 52 attempts with 27 kills in seven frames, as the Camels downed Mercer 3-0 and KSU 3-1, on the road.
* Weers collected 11 total blocks, 10 assisted and one solo, on her way to averaging a team-high 4.86 points per set on the weekend. Weers knocked 11 kills against Mercer, adding five blocks, (four assisted and one solo) for a team-high 14 points. At Kennesaw State, Weers unloaded a season-high 16 kills on 22 attempts with just one error for a .682 rate, another season high. Also with six blocks and an ace, the senior middle totaled 20 points. The pair of double-digit outings marked her seventh and eighth of the season, while Weers has notched seven multi-block matches. The senior hit over .300 in nine of her 12 matches this season, raising her effort to an A-Sun best .385.
* Junior middle blocker Caitlin Bendy stands fourth on that list, hitting .329 on the season, while ranking second in blocks with 109. Other Camels among the A-Sun’s leaders are junior outside hitter Werner (ninth, kill per set, 2.81) and sophomore setter Hope Leatigaga (sixth, assists per set, 7.67).

ETSU
* The ETSU volleyball team finished 2-1 last week dropping a home match to Chattanooga 3-1, before defeating Kenne¬saw State 3-1 and Mercer 3-0 on the weekend. The Bucs sit in third place with a 5-7 overall record and 4-1 conference.
* Senior Amanda Youell had an impressive week totaling 12 kills, 135 assists, three service aces, 21 digs and 12 blocks. The Middleburg, Fla. native averaged 11.25 assists, one kill, one block and 1.75 digs per set as the Bucs went 2-1 on the week improving to 2-1 in conference.
* The Bucs head to Boone, N.C. Tuesday to take on Appalachian State. Campbell comes to Brooks Gym on Saturday as the Buccaneers look to make it three straight wins in conference.

FGCU
* FGCU suffered its first Atlantic Sun Conference loss of the season Saturday night against the Lipscomb Lady Bisons, marking the first time that the Eagles were swept at home in A-Sun conference play.
* Against the Bruins, sophomore Anna Wagner led the offense with 17 kills and added 10 digs, while junior outside hitter Jelena Simic chipped in with 16 kills and 10 digs. Junior middle blocker Jacqueline Cowden also registered double-digit kills with 11 and senior setter Chandra Lefever record 44 assists along with eight digs. Defensively, sophomore libero Holly Youngquist led FGCU with 17 digs.
* The Eagles continue their pursuit of their third consecutive A-Sun regular season championship when they head to the River City to take on Jacksonville and UNF. They face the Dolphins on Friday and the Ospreys the following night.
* FGCU’s next home contest will be against Mercer on October 8 at 7:00 p.m. at Alico Arena.

Jacksonville
*After being shut out in straight sets last weekend against Belmont and Lipscomb, JU shut out three straight opponents this week with wins over UNF, Bethune-Cookman and USC Upstate.
* Senior libero Shelley Walroth is now 36 digs shy of surpass¬ing her sister, Julie, for the most digs in the Walroth family and is 152 digs shy of cracking the top 25 all-time in NCAA history. Walroth racked up 40 digs against UNF and Bethune-Cookman. Junior outside hitter Aidan Yeager led the Dolphins with seven kills against UNF * Against Bethune-Cookman, senior outside hitter Brooke Singleton and junior outside hitter Brittany Lehman each finished with 11 kills. Senior middle blocker Nicki Kent tallied three blocks, six kills and a .333 hitting percentage. Junior set¬ter Hannah Munneke paced the offense with 20 assists.
* Against USC Upstate, Kent tallied 11 kills while Lehman registered 10 kills and a match-high .571 hitting percentage. JU hit a season-best .435 including a .500 clip in set three and a nuclear .667 in set one. Kent also hit .500 in the contest while also registering a match-high three blocks. Munneke paced the offense with 24 assists.

Kennesaw State
* Junior Sabrita Gulley and senior Asjia Stokes combined for 39 of Kennesaw State’s 57 kills on the weekend. Gulley recorded 21 kills for the Owls, three off of her 24 the night before against ETSU. Stokes had 18 kills for the Owls.
* Against Campbell, both players converted double-doubles as Gulley tallied 11 kills, while Stokes collected 10. Sophomore Rachael Albright also finished with a double-double for the Owls, with 36 assists and 17 digs.
* Senior Chelsey Denesha notched 10 kills for the Owls, while sophomore Grace Hoyt saw her first action of the season for KSU in the third set, collecting seven assists in the frame.
* The Owls will return to action this Tuesday when they take on Georgia State in a match moved to North Cobb High School in Kennesaw. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m., with free admission for all patrons.

Lipscomb
* Junior setter Stefinie “Jake” Pease broke the 3,000 assists mark for her career over the weekend in matches with Stetson and FGCU. She ranks seventh on the A-Sun career sets ladder.
* Junior middle hitter Alex Kelly is only three kills away from 1,000 for her career. Three Lady Bisons have reached the 1,000 kills mark, Kristin Peck, Alex Scruggs and Brittney Lanius.
* Heading into this weekend the Lady Bisons have won five consecutive matches by 3-0 decisions, the longest mark in the NCAA era.

Mercer
* Last week, Mercer fell to Florida A&M, Campbell and ETSU, all by scores of 3-0.
* Sophomores Ashley Skidmore, Amiee Frutchey and Rachel Urbelis all rank among the top ten conference players in digs per set. Skidmore (4.00) is fourth, Frutchey is fifth (3.73), and Urbelis (3.41) is eighth. As a team, Mercer averages the third most digs per set in A-Sun.
* This week the Bears hit the road to challenge Lipscomb and Belmont. Last year Mercer was 0-2 versus Lipscomb and 1-1 versus the Bruins.

UNF
* Juniors outside hitter Danielle Lerch and middle blocker Kaley Read combined for 35 kills as they led UNF past Atlantic Sun foe USC Upstate, 3-0, in the Ospreys’ 2009 home opener on Saturday at UNF Arena. Lerch posted 18 kills, while hitting 50 percent for the Ospreys, and Read tallied 17 kills on 51.6 percent hitting.
* Junior setter Jessica Catelano notched 43 assists, and fresh¬man outside hitter Paige Pridgeon collected 10 digs. Pridgeon also tallied seven aces in the match, just one shy of tying the UNF record for a three-set match.
* Earlier in the week, UNF fell to crosstown Atlantic Sun rival Jacksonville, 3-0, on Wednesday night. As the 15th meeting between the two teams with UNF holding the 8-6 advantage in the series, the match served as the first contest in the 2009-10 SunTrust River City Rumble between the two teams.
* The Ospreys will be back in action on Friday when they host Stetson. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. in UNF Arena. USC Upstate * Freshman setter Emily Sanders nearly posted a double-dou¬ble with 27 assists and nine digs against UNF in Atlantic Sun Conference action on Saturday.
* Both sophomore middle blocker Morgan Thomas and junior outside hitter Erin Jacobsen posted nine kills. Junior libero Megan Healey added a team-high 11 digs for Upstate (3-10 overall, 0-6 A-Sun). Jacobsen and junior middle blocker Katie Downey each added two blocks.
* Against Jacksonville the previous night, Thomas posted 10 kills and two blocks while hitting .533. Freshman setter Emily Sanders posted 19 assists and five digs, while freshman Paige Weiland added six digs for the Spartans.
* Upstate will wrap up its three-match road swing with a 7:00 p.m. Tuesday match at rival Presbyterian.

Stetson
* Sophomore outside hitter Kaylee Ream had a match-high five kills, freshman setter Kelli Carneal added 13 assists and four blocks and senior libero Anna Becker was the top Hatter defender with eight digs, against the visiting Belmont Bruins on Saturday.
* Against the Lipscomb Lady Bisons, Ream notched seven kills and junior setter Megan Stewart reached a career high with seven digs. Carneal put up 18 assists, seven digs and three kills for the Hatters, while senior middle blocker Laura Boyd scored four errorless kills and hit .444.
* Stetson returns to action Friday evening when it visits A-Sun rival UNF. The Hatters hope to win at UNF Arena for the third consecutive year.

The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life, with a focus on academic and athletic integrity and a balance between the two for the student-athlete, and maintaining a high level of sportsmanship. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun encompasses six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun consists of some of the most dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.