Atlantic Sun Volleyball hits its own fall break as the conference takes a week off from conference play here in the middle of the round-robin season. Three schools, Belmont, FGCU and Kennesaw State won't play at until league play resumes on Friday, October 29. With everybody having played five or six conference games, the league races at the top and in the jumble for championship seeding are starting to take shape. Which matchups or storylines are you most interested in following the final 30 days of the regular season? Tell us through Facebook, Twitter or in our comments section.
Georgia, Tennessee Assert Dominance
For 200 years, Georgia and Tennessee have undergone a border dispute revolving around the Tennessee River and drinking water. This fun fact was a way to connect US history to A-Sun volleyball as the conference's five Georgia and Tennessee schools (Kennesaw State, Mercr, ETSU, Lipscomb and Belmont) combined to go 8-0 on the weekend and currently own the top five spots in the conference standing. Lipscomb and Belmont both beat Campbell; Mercer and Kennesaw State took down FGCU and Stetson and ETSU picked up two wins in Jacksonville.
It Bears Repeating
For the first in almost two years, Mercer won both league matches on consecutive weekends. In improving to 4-2, the Bears are off to their best 6-game A-Sun start since a 5-1 run to open 2007. Libero Charlotte Harris won the Bears' first Player of the Week award of 2010 (and first since Rachel Urbelis won last October 26). She totaled 59 digs in the wins against FGCU and Stetson. In the four-set win against the Hatters, she recorded 39, one shy of the league's four-set record in conference games. She paces the conference in digs with 436 and rank in the top 30 in the nation in digs per set, 5.19.
Three A-Sun Schools Entertain Seattle
As part of this non-conference weekend, three of the A-Sun's Florida schools welcome in the Seattle University Redhawks. On Thursday, UNF serves as host followed by Jacksonville one night later. The three-day event concludes in DeLand when Stetson welcomes in the 10-12 Redhawks. Seattle U picked up a victory against Mercer in the season-opening invitational at Seattle.
River City Rumble Prequel
Before facing Seattle, Jacksonville and UNF will meet in an non-conference River City Rumble on Tuesday from Jacksonville's Swisher Gymnasium. If the Dolphins can match the intensity of their mascot, Dunk'n, they could make short work of their crosstown rival.
Bisons in Rarefied Company
In addition to boasting the conference's lone unbeaten record, Lipscomb leads the A-Sun in hitting percentage, assists per set, kills per set and digs per set. Only two other school in the country and lay claim to the same distinction. In the America East Conference, Albany leads in all four categories as does Yale out of the Ivy League.
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