Nov. 9, 2006

Final Stats

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Nov. 9, 2006) - Thursday night's version of the SunTrust River City Rumble was one both the University of North Florida and Jacksonville University could dig.

UNF's Tara Taylor helped her team to a win over its cross-town rival JU, setting the all-time career digs mark at UNF in the process, while Shelley Walroth set her school's single-season digs mark in the losing effort.

Game scores were 30-28, 30-27 28-30 and 30-21, giving the Lady Ospreys (17-15) a season sweep of JU (14-14) and another point in the SunTrust River City Rumble standings. The win also secured a winning season for UNF.

"Tara has been awesome during her time here," UNF head coach Bryan Bunn said. "She is deserving of the record and we are really going to miss her next year."

Taylor now has 1,597 digs in her career and will look to add to that mark in the Lady Ospreys' final match of the season on Saturday.

Amy Stroder led the way for UNF with 20 kills, while Maegan Weisert followed her with 17 kills and 18 digs.

"We played well tonight, except for the letdown we had in game three," Bunn said. "It's always good to get a win against a rival in their gym."

The teams battled back and forth in the opening game with UNF holding a small edge most of the way. The Lady Ospreys broke an 11-11 tie and eventually opened up a five-point lead at 25-20. JU pulled within one at 28-27, but an Allison O'Neill kill gave the Lady Ospreys a two-point advantage, helping UNF secure a 30-28 win. O'Neill, Stroder, Magen Wood and Emily Kohler all had four kills to lead the way for UNF.

JU claimed an early three-point lead in game two before the Lady Ospreys rebounded and grabbed an 11-10 lead on an O'Neill kill. JU countered from there and on the strength of a pair of Eva Stoilova aces and took a 20-16 advantage. The serving of Claire Yonutus and Jenna Thomas and a key block helped the Lady Ospreys take a 23-22 lead, which they would not relinquish the rest of the way. Weisert had nine kills in the game to lead UNF.

The Lady Ospreys tried to make a late run in the third game, denying JU four-straight game point opportunities in coming back from a 29-24 disadvantage to pull within one with Yonutus on the service line. Taylor wrapped up the career dig record in the loss with her 12th and 13th digs.

A rally on Weisert's serve led to an 11-7 advantage in the fourth game. That four-point lead held steady throughout most of the game until the Lady Ospreys put on a late charge and eventually took a 28-20 advantage before winning the game 30-21.

UNF will close out its season on Saturday when it travels to Stetson to take on the Lady Hatters in a non-conference matchup.