Oct. 21, 2005

Final Stats

Kelly Paiva completed her fifth 30-kill match of the season as Florida Atlantic University knocked off Belmont University when two undefeated teams in the Atlantic Sun Conference squared off in Nashville on Saturday evening. FAU held off the Bruins 27-30, 30-21, 26-30, 30-23, 15-12 to improve to 21-2, 5-0 A-Sun, while Belmont drops to 17-11, 5-1 A-Sun.

The Bruins came out in game one with a strong offense as the team hit .405 to gain the early advantage. They relinquished the momentum in game two by connecting on only nine kills and committing nine errors.

After trading the next two games, the match came down to the wire at 11-11 in game five. The Owls then went on a 4-1 run to close out the match with two of Paiva's 33 kills and a service ace from Katie Arvidson (Franklin, TN). Arvidson finished with a match-high four aces for FAU. The team finished with a season-high 12 service aces in the win.

Florida Atlantic also managed 16 kills and 21 digs more than their counterparts. Arvidson, Justine Petry (Trumansburg, NY) and Janelle Sarauw (St. Thomas, V.I.) each finished with double-digit kills to lead the offense along with Paiva. 18 digs from Dimitra Samas (Jamaica Estates, NY) and Makra Condill paced the defense and Paiva completed a double-double with 16 digs of her own.

Middle blockers Petry and Arvidson both finished with five blocks to keep the Bruins' offense in check with a .239 team hitting percentage.

Lindsay Cleveland led Belmont with 21 kills, while Ashley Collier finished with 24 digs as the team dropped its first A-Sun match of the season.

FAU's record against Belmont remains perfect as the Owls have won all five meetings against the team since the Bruins joined the conference in 2001.

Traveling across town, FAU will face Lipscomb University on Saturday in Nashville at 4:00 pm et.