By By Drew Buono

COACHES CHOOSEThe Pride is the preseason favorite to win the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) title. But according to the 10 head coaches that voted in the poll, conference play should be pretty competitive. Four of the 10 teams received first place votes while the Blue & Gold led all teams with four first place votes. Overall, the team had 70 total points while Delaware and Northeastern were a close second and third. The rest of the poll is as follows; Towson, William and Mary, James Madison, Virginia Commonwealth, George Mason, Georgia State, and UNC Wilmington. The Pride has so far been living up to the preseason prediction by leading the CAA with a 4-0 record.

HEY, I REMEMBER YOUIn an interesting twist of fate, Pride head coach Fran Kalafer will face four of her former assistant coaches this season. She has faced three of the coaches already-compiling a 1-1 record (two of the coaches are on the same staff). The Pride defeated Cal-State Fullerton and last year’s assistant Traci Dahl, 3-1, on August 26 before losing 3-0 to former assistants Stephen Florio (1999-2002) and Julie Florio (2002-03), both of whom are currently assistant coaches at IPFW.Kalafer and the Pride will also face former assistant Monica Holmes (1997-99) on Tuesday. Holmes is now the head coach at Columbia University. In an interesting twist, former Pride player Brie Katz (1999-02) is an assistant on Holmes’ staff.

STACKING UPThe Pride is in the top five in seven of the eight key statistics in the CAA. The team is first in hitting percentage with a .306 average, which is about 30 points in front of the next closest team. The Pride is also second in kills, averaging 15.64 a game and third in assists-thanks in large part to reigning CAA rookie of the year Shellane Ogoshi, who is averaging 11.27 a game. However, the Pride has not been so fortunate in its service aces, ranking eighth out of the ten teams (1.27 per game). In comparison, the leading team– James Madison-is averaging 2.58 aces per game.