Sept. 17, 2005

Ole Miss Box Score l USM Box Score

MOBILE, Ala. - The University of North Florida volleyball team rolled to the championship of the South Alabama Classic on Saturday, upending Southeastern Conference foe Ole Miss 3-1 in its first match before capping the day with a 3-1 victory over Southern Miss at Jaguar Gym.

Senior Kelly Kazmierczak recorded 16 kills against Ole Miss (6-4) and then followed with nine against Southern Miss (4-3) to earn tournament MVP honors. The Lady Ospreys (6-6) finished 3-0 in the weekend event, also upending South Alabama 3-1 on Friday night.

On Saturday, UNF hit the ball well in both matches - finishing with a .293 attack percentage against the Lady Rebels in the opening match and .202 against the Golden Eagles.

UNF was forced to rally against Ole Miss after losing 30-23 in game one. The Lady Ospreys rattled off three consecutive victories after that - 30-19, 30-25 and 30-24 - to claim the program's first win over a school from the Southeastern Conference.

Allison O'Neill and Jennifer King each finished with 13 kills, with O'Neill hitting .476 and King .242. Freshman setter Heather Kendrick continued her impressive ways, guiding the offense with 51 assists.

A .467 hitting effort in game two - including only one error - got the Lady Ospreys going and they never looked back. Ole Miss hit just .160 and committed 34 errors. Nikki Hill had 23 kills to pace the Lady Rebels.

Against Southern Miss, UNF continued with more of the same.

The Lady Ospreys won the opening game 30-22 after falling behind early, led by six kills from King. Southern Miss won game two 30-21 after UNF committed eight errors and hit just .091. From there, however, UNF took control - winning 32-30 and 30- 27 in the final two games to win the tournament title and pull its season record to .500.

King and O'Neill proved to be the UNF's workhorses, finishing with 19 and 14 kills, respectively. Kendrick had 58 assists, while Jenna Thomas had a season- high 27 digs and three aces. Thomas was also named to the all-tournament team.

UNF will travel to DeLand, Fla., next Friday to face Stetson in their Atlantic Sun Conference opener. Match time is set for 4 p.m.