A-Sun What to Watch For - Oct. 16, 2009

Cross Country:
• On Friday, five Atlantic Sun schools head to Florida for the Hatter Invitational. The meet features a preview of the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship on October 31st. The 5k course is located at Sperling Sports Complex, about five miles north of Stetson University, the host of the championship. • On Saturday in other cross country action, Lipscomb’s men and women compete at the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark. and the UE Invitational in Evansville, Ind., Campbell will compete at the Asics/Winthrop Invitational in Rock Hill, N.C., Belmont and ETSU race at the ISU Pre-Nationals in Terra Haute, Ind. and USC Upstate hosts the USC Upstate Invite in Spartansburg, S.C. Next week, the Owls will be back in competition as they host the first KSU Owl Invitational at Noonday Park in Kennesaw, an event that will host the A-Sun schools from the Music City.

Men's Soccer:
• FGCU travels to Spartanburg, S.C. to meet USC Upstate in the Atlantic Sun men’s soccer Game of the Week at Noon Sunday in County University Soccer Stadium live on ASunTV. FGCU looks to stay on the heels of A-Sun leading Campbell, who remains unbeaten in conference play. USC Upstate opened the season with four consecutive losses but since then the Spartans hold four wins and a tie in their last seven games. • Campbell had not lost a game during the month of October in nearly two years before falling to No. 2 UNC on Tuesday, compiling a string of 17-straight wins or draws. CU stood 15-0-2 in its last 17 games during October, since a 3-2 loss at Lipscomb on Oct. 13, 2007. During that stretch, Campbell had defeated North Carolina twice in addition to a 13-0-2 mark against league foes.
• Mercer's Ian Cameron continues to shine in his junior season at Mercer. The A-Sun Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 27-Oct. 3 leads the team with six goals and 13 points.
• UNF returns to action on Friday, Oct. 16, as they head to Nashville, Tenn. for a match against Lipscomb at 7:30 p.m. On Sunday, Oct. 18, the Ospreys battle in Nashville for a match at Belmont set to start at 2 p.m.
• Stetson's Kevin Munz scored a pair of goals in each win this week and was named the A-Sun Offensive Player of the Week. He is now second in the league in scoring (15 pts) and in assists (five). This week Stetson will travel north to take on USC Upstate on Friday and ETSU on Sunday. Stetson enters the week in second place in the A-Sun at 3-1-0, one point behind Campbell (3-0-1).

Women's Soccer:
• FGCU heads north to Nashville, Tenn. to due battle with Belmont in the Atlantic Sun women’s soccer Game of the Week at 4:00 p.m. CST Friday at the Whitten Soccer Complex. The Bruins and the Eagles enter the weekend second and third in the conference standings, respectfully. Belmont holds the A-Sun’s top winning percentage in league play but the Bruins sit second in the standings with a game in hand to conference leader Kennesaw State. • Campbell’s four-game unbeaten streak has boosted the Camels into second place in the league standings with 13 points and a 4-2-1 record. Campbell (9-6-1) has produced its most overall and league victories since 2005, when the Camels advanced to the A-Sun title contest. CU has not stood this high in the league table at this point in the season since ‘05.
• The Dolphins have played their first seven games of conference play with just a single loss, a streak that has not been matched since 2002. JU headed north to face Campbell on Thursday, picking up a tie and the Dolphins turn right around for the SunTrust River City Rumble against UNF on Monday.
• Monday night will feature the fifth year anniversary of the SunTrust River City Rumble between UNF and JU. Even though this is the fifth year these two teams have battled in the same conference and for the coveted, “SunTrust Old Wooden Barrel,” the Ospreys have battled the cross town rivals seven times and have come away victorious three out of the four times. Last year’s contest ended in a 1-0 win for Jacksonville after both teams ended the match with ten players due to red cards.
• Stetson's Tessa Gavilsky regained her position on top of the league scoring chart (22 points) after scoring two goals and dishing out three assists on the week. She had a goal and two assists in win over UNF. Last year’s A-Sun Offensive Player of the Year also leads the A-Sun with four game-winning goals.

Women's Golf:
• The Owls look to improve on an eighth-place finish a week ago as they head to Iowa City, Iowa for the Hawkeye Invitational. In wet conditions on the final day of the Eat A Peach Invitational, Kennesaw State shot 311, last weekend to finish in eighth place out of 12 teams, 19-shots behind No. 9-ranked Georgia who won the title after shooting a 13-over par 301. The Owls beat in-state rivals Augusta State for the 2nd straight week and also conference foe Mercer.

Men's Golf:
• Only ETSU hit the links this weekend in A-Sun play as they head to Jonesborough, Tenn for the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate Invitational. The Bucs are coming off their best finish of the season coming in third out of 12 teams at the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate Invitational in Birmingham, Ala.

Volleyball:
• Senior libero Walroth moved into 22nd place In the NCAA career standings all-time with 26 digs at UNF and needs 26 more to move into the top 20. Walroth, who has tallied at least 20 digs in 10 matches this year, currently leads the A-Sun with an average of 5.35 digs per set. The Cincinnati native has also found her way into the national rankings by sitting 15th with her digs per set average.
• Against ETSU on Tuesday, both sophomores Kelsie Queen and Morgan Thomas became the third and fourth players at USC Upstate to reach 200 career kills in A-Sun matches. Thomas also needs just one block to become the first player in the D-I era to reach 150 rejections.
• The Owls (10-8, 5-6) are coming off what statistically ranks as one of the best defensive matches in the four-year history of the program. Kennesaw State recorded a program-record 109 digs in a four-set win at Mercer Tuesday night. Senior libero Selina O’Leary set the school record for digs in a match with 27, with sophomore setter Rachael Albright just behind with 26. The Owls play host to Lipscomb on Friday night, followed by Belmont Saturday afternoon at at the KSU Convocation Center.
• FGCU looks to extend its four-match winning streak this weekend when they entertain UNF and Jacksonville this Friday and Saturday. The Eagles have been dominant at home during the five plus years of the program, posting a 48-4 record in Alico Arena. FGCU has been equally dominant conference competition, going 41-5 against league foes since joining the A-Sun in 2007. • The Camels are 13-8 overall on the season after a 3-0 sweep of Winston-Salem State last Tuesday, a match that saw Campbell set season-bests in aces (13), points allowed (38) and opponent hitting percentage (-.052). By the start of October, Campbell racked up an 11-5 overall record that included a 5-1 start in A-Sun play, second in the league. These marks have not been seen by a CU team in nearly a decade. This weekend, Campbell welcomes ETSU and USC Upstate inside the John W. Pope, Jr. Convocation Center. • After pushing their winning streak to 13 matches with a 3-1 victory against Belmont in the Match of the Week, the Lipscomb Lady Bisons (16-3, 11-0) make stops at Kennesaw State and Mercer this weekend. On Tuesday, a new edition of “Battle of the Boulevard” was played in front of a record crowd of 1,379 fans, a new record for a volleyball match at Allen Arena. Lady Bisons Head Coach Brandon Rosenthal directed his team to a record 50th win in the Atlantic Sun. Reigning Player of the Week Alex Kelly leads the A-Sun and the Bisons with 4.32 kills per set, while setter Stefine “Jake” Pease leads the conference with 11.54 assists per set.