Final Stats

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The University of North Florida women's volleyball team stood toe-to-toe with defending Atlantic Sun Conference champion Belmont on Saturday and put up a tenacious battle but came out on the short end of a 3-1 decision (23-30, 21-30, 34-36, 22-30) at UNF Arena.

Freshman Kaley Read set a new season-high with 16 kills, which led both teams. She also notched three service aces, tallied four blocks and hit a team-best .258. Senior Maegan Weisert recorded her 37th career double-double and fourth of the season with 11 kills and 18 digs. Junior libero Nikki Prock tallied 16 digs.

UNF (4-18, 1-7 A-Sun) put its mark on the match in game three in what was arguably the team's most exciting game of the season. After falling behind by as many as five twice, the Lady Ospreys fought through the pressure and turned a 20-15 Belmont lead into a 20-20 tie. With the new life, UNF continued to clash with the Bruins until the game stood at 34 apiece.

Freshman Marshay Greenlee and Read stepped up and blocked an attack by Belmont's Jaye Schuler to give the Lady Ospreys a 35-34 lead. Then senior Claire Yonutas put an exclamation point on the miraculous come-from-behind game three win with an ace. The game ended up with 15 ties and six lead changes.

Belmont (15-7, 5-2) went up 1-0 in the match after outhitting UNF .297 to .182 in game one. The Lady Ospreys grabbed an early 6-4 lead on a kill by junior Bary Rasmussen, but the Bruins were able to snatch the momentum away by going on a 6-1 run. Belmont went up by as many as 10 before settling on the final score.

Thirteen errors in game two caused UNF to hit -.051 and allowed the Bruins to steal the Lady Ospreys' early 4-3 lead away. Belmont took advantage of an 11-3 run to put the game out of reach for UNF.

After the Lady Ospreys' tough rumble in the third game, it looked as if they might have run out of gas. The Bruins took a 14-7 lead in the middle of the fourth game and put the pressure on, but UNF proved it still had some fight left and pulled to within four of the Belmont lead at 22-18. The Lady Ospreys continued to linger, but a 6-1 run by the Bruins ended UNF's comeback and wrapped up the match victory for Belmont.

Rasmussen finished with a team-high five blocks, while UNF posted its highest block total in eight games. Freshman Madeline Belvin recorded 38 assists.

UNF will return to action at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at UNF Arena for a non-conference matchup with Florida A&M.