Nov. 7, 2007

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -

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After going 1-1 last week, the JU volleyball team (16- 12) will complete the regular season with a non- conference match at North Florida (4-25) for another point in the SunTrust River City Rumble.

The Dolphins, who defeated the Ospreys (3-0) on Oct. 26, will enter the Atlantic Sun Tournament next week in Macon, Ga.

JU's match against North Florida and in the A-Sun Tournament will be available through ASun.TV on www.judolphins.com.

A-Sun Championship set
With one week left in the regular season, the field has been set for the A-Sun Championship in Macon, Ga.

Belmont (9-2) and East Tennessee State (9-2) hold the top two spots and a first round bye. JU  (8-3) enters as the No. 3 seed and will face No. 6 Gardner-Webb (5-6). No. 4 Lipscomb (7-4) will play against No. 5 Mercer (6-5) as the first round opens on Nov. 15. Florida Gulf Coast (10-1), who earned the regular season title, is not eligible for postseason play due to its jump to Division I.

All matches during the A-Sun Tournament will be available through ASun.TV. The winner of the conference tournament will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Hannah's money
Freshman setter Hannah Munneke (pronounced mun-ah-key) was thrown into the pool without much security in her first season with the program but she certainly isn't sinking, in fact, she's nearly a synchronized swimmer.

Along with moving into third in the A-Sun rankings with 11.61 assists per game, she also leads all setters in service aces (34) and blocks (57).

Munneke is also knocking on the door of the single-season record for assists in a season. She currently sits at 1,173 and is 71 away from surpassing Erin Donivan (1,244) for the top spot.

Big up front
Senior middle blocker Melissa Merchant is one of the hottest tickets on the national market these days when it comes to playing defense at the net.

The Oakley, Calif. native is 14th in the national rankings with an average of 1.55 blocks per game. In total blocks, she is sixth nationally with 152.

In a different perspective of her dominance in the A-Sun, she is 35 blocks ahead of Mercer's Jen Darty (117). Merchant also re-established herself in the JU record book by claiming the match high block record with 15 at ETSU on Sept. 21.

In the career record book, she is second with 258 block assists and fifth with 293 total blocks. In comparison, Merchant has yet to complete her second season with the program and each other player has tallied at least three seasons worth of stats.

The back line of defense
Sophomore libero Michelle Walroth broke her own single-season digs record at JU with 585 and is second in the A-Sun with an average of 5.74 digs per game.

She has also finished with 30 digs on four occasions this season, including a season-high 32 twice, and is on pace to break her own single season record.

Not only that, but Walroth joins fellow teammate Mellisa Merchant in the national rankings as she checks in at 24th. Her sister, Julie, is a senior libero at Evansville and is currently ranked fifth in the nation with an average of 6.30 digs per game. 

Along with the single season record, Walroth is also on pace to destroy the Dolphin record book as she sits second in career digs (1,156) which is 168 behind Julie Heipp (1,324).

A-Sun statistics
Individually, freshman middle blocker Abby Gruenbacher is third in blocks per game (1.04 bpg) and freshman outside hitter Aidan Yeager is tied for fourth (1.03), sophomore setter Hannah Munneke is third in assists per game (11.61), senior middle blocker Melissa Merchant is eighth in hitting percentage (.308), junior outside hitter Sara Bendorf is tied for seventh in service aces per game (0.44) and ninth in kills per game (3.38). As a team, JU leads the conference in blocks (2.75 bpg), third in hitting percentage (.216) and opponent hitting percentage (.167), fifth in service aces per game (1.93).

ASun.TV now available
The JU Dolphins made their debut on ASun.TV against No. 8 Washington on Sept. 14 and more matches remain. To sign up to view any of the contests, or any other packages offered, log onto www.judolphins.com.

ASun.TV events will be available for viewing both live and via on-demand replay to fans throughout the country that purchase a Single Event Pass ($5.99 per event), a monthly All-Event Pass ($9.99 per month), or an annual All-Event pass ($69.99 per year). Both the annual and monthly All- Event Passes allow unlimited access to games within their respective timeframes.

Among the remaining matches on the 2007 schedule are UNF (11/ 8) and the A-Sun Tournament (11/15-11-17).