April 24, 2008

BOCA RATON, FL - Florida Atlantic University's women's volleyball team captured the inaugural Commissioner's Cup as the champions of the Division I Florida Invitational Beach Volleyball Tournament in Siesta Key held April 19.

"We played really well considering that the girls only had a couple of chances to practice as a team before the actual tournament," said Jody Brown, FAU volleyball head coach. "The tournament was excellent. It was a quality event. The level of play was even higher than I expected. We had a lot of interest from people who were on the beach."

Six universities sent 25 two-woman teams to compete in three divisions of pool play before entering the elimination round. The Owls finished in first place, followed by the University of Miami and the University of South Florida. Mississippi State University, the University of North Florida and Webber International University rounded out the tournament field.

FAU sent four teams to the tournament, including Casey LaRocca/Morgan Johns; Kala Abdell/Mallory Deneen; Katie Arvidson/Katie Evanyo; and Krystena Castro/Paige Depriest.

After pool play was completed, the teams were then reseeded into three different divisions. The top two teams from each pool went into the Gold Division, the next two went into the Silver Division, and the final two went into the Bronze Division. They were seeded first by record and then by total points allowed.

Although none of the FAU teams advanced to the finals of their division in the elimination round, the points they accumulated during pool play allowed them to take the team title by a single point.

The FAU women's volleyball team will return all nine letter-winners from the 2007 season in the fall when they begin their third season in the Sun Belt Conference.