Florida Atlantic garnered a pair of transfers, both from Power-5 schools in Zuri Smith and Mimi Marion. Smith will be a redshirt sophomore in 2017 and have three years left of eligibility while Marion will be a redshirt freshman and have four years left of eligibility.
Smith is a 6’3″ middle blocker making her third stop, as she was at West Virginia last season and Colorado the year before that. She redshirted in her lone season in Boulder and then appeared in four sets for the Mountaineers. Before that she was an all-state honoree as a senior in her prep career at Sumter High School in South Carolina.
At 6’1″, Marion can play the middle blocker just like Smith but also can play some right side. She attended NC State as a freshman but redshirted in 2016. In her high school career at Minnetonka High School in Minnesota, she was adept at leading the team in blocks. With the Northern Lights Club Team she also earned all-tournament honors at the Chicago Classic.
As both can play the middle blocker spot, Smith and Marion give the team four at the position. At the right side position for Marion, there are three others who can play the role as in total she has competition from three athletes at both spots. Both Smith and Marion are currently listed on the Owls roster, although a release has not been made, so it is unclear whether they will both be immediately eligible. That said, it would be likely that they should be as they are transferring out of conference.
Florida Atlantic finished with a winning record of 15-14 last season. They also collected a 10-4 mark in conference play which put them in a tie for fourth place as they eventually fell in their first C-USA tournament match.
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