UNF Volleyball Has Productive Spring
5/6/2010 5:08:37 PM | Volleyball
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida volleyball team had a successful spring season, having competed in four tournaments including Fiesta on Siesta Key Collegiate Beach Championships and hosting Penn State and Central Florida.
“I thought we had a great spring season,” said head coach Kevin Campbell. “It can be attributed to the team's hardwork in the weight room and on the court this spring. The whole team is dedicated to getting better at the game. I believe that this spring is the foundation for our future success. The team improved dramatically this spring, both in skills and strength as well as in being a team. I am really excited to begin our 2010 season in the fall.”
The Ospreys opened spring competition at College of Charleston where they faced CofC and The Citadel in a morning and afternoon indoor pool play. CofC won the Southern Conference last season after finishing with an 18-13 record and 12-4 in conference. The Cougars fell to Florida in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
“Even though we were outsized by both teams, the first thing that I was that we played harder and executed better than both teams,” said Campbell. “We were faster and were able to execute a fast offense against those teams. Jessica's [Catelano] setting has really come far since the fall and our team blocking has improved as well as our passing and defense.”
UNF followed up the CofC tournament with a tournament at Flagler that featured both indoor play and a beach tournament against host team Flagler, Emory, Stetson and Embry-Riddle. Flagler was the 2009 Peach Belt Champion and was a national semifinalist, finishing the season ranked 22nd in Division II standings.
“It was a lighter day,” Campbell said. “We played indoor in the morning and then out at the beach in the evening. We competed very well with our hitters. Paige [Pridgeon] and Marija [Pantovic] were dominate in that gym. In the beach tournament at St. Augustine Pier, our doubles teams all had winning records. Jessica and Dagnija [Medina] didn't lose a match as our No. 1 doubles team.”
Next on the schedule for the Ospreys was the Fiesta on Siesta Collegiate Beach Championships in Siesta Key, Fla. Competing in the tournament was several teams from the SEC and ACC including USF, Florida, Alabama, LSU, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida State and Miami. Also competing were Notre Dame, UCF, East Carolina, FAU, Florida Gulf Coast, Jacksonville and Stetson.
Medina teamed up with Catelano to win the silver division while juniors Chelsea Rabe and Marshay Greenlee competed in the gold division.
UNF wrapped up spring play at home, hosting 2009 National Champions Penn State and Conference USA's UCF. The three teams competed indoors at UNF Arena in the morning in a closed scrimmage session.
“It was a great experience for our hitters to be able to see a block like Penn State's,” said Campbell. “It was good for our defenders to be able to dig attacks coming that quickly and at those different angles. I was excited that our passers got to see a varied group of jump serves. We only have one jump server in our gym as Paige hits a great jump serve. Central Florida posed great challenges as well. Overall it was a great day in the gym.”
In the afternoon, all three teams headed out to Jacksonville Beach Pier for a beach tournament. The tournament took place during “The Opening of the Beaches” weekend at Jacksonville Beach.
“We were able to finish our day with a beach tournament which was wild,” Campbell commented. “It was The Opening of the Beaches that weekend. We had three nets of competition and there were thousands of people on the beach that day. The final match was Blair Brown and Kristin Carpenter from Penn State against Dagnija and Jessica. We ended up losing 21-18 in the finals, but overall it was a great day.”
