Final Stats

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The University of North Florida women's volleyball team got the conference season started on the right note with a 3-2 win (26-30, 31-29, 23-30, 30-26, 15-10) over USC Upstate on Saturday.

UNF (3-11, 1-0 Atlantic Sun Conference) got double-doubles from Claire Yonutas (career-high 18 kills, career-high 14 digs) and Kavie Sturch (tied career-high with 11 kills, 13 digs). Freshman Madeline Belvin notched a season-high 51 assists. The Lady Ospreys out hit the Spartans .103 to .086 and also led in blocks 11 to 10. There were 29 ties and 14 lead changes, with 14 ties and six lead changes occurring in the fourth game alone.

"It was nice for our team to fight through some of the inconsistencies we've been struggling with and come out on top," said head coach Kevin Campbell.

Down two games to one, the Lady Ospreys were able to answer the challenge in game four to knot the match at two. With the game at a deadlock for most of the way, UNF was a able to break a 19-19 tie on a ball-handling error by USC Upstate's Jenna Leslie. The Lady Ospreys capitalized on the Spartan miscue and later went up 27-23. Yonutas stepped and was responsible for two of UNF's final three points for the win.

With momentum on their side, the Lady Ospreys seized the opportunity and jumped out a 5-1 lead in the final game. UNF went up by as many as seven and effectively deflated the USC Upstate attack. Freshman Kaley Read closed the match with one of her 13 kills.

With the way the match started, it looked as if UNF would roll to a three-game victory. The Lady Ospreys set the tone of the tempo in game one early, taking an 8-5 lead. But later in the match UNF had trouble hitting its spots and finished the game with a -.020 hitting percentage. USC Upstate's 7-1 run gave the team a 12-9 lead, and UNF wasn't able to fully recover despite a late rally that pulled UNF to within 22-21.

UNF retook control at the start of game two, taking a 10-5 lead before USC Upstate had to take a timeout. The onslaught of points was bolstered by Read's three straight service aces. The Lady Ospreys went on to take a 19-11 lead, but the Spartans got right back into it and went on to knot it up at 29. But after an attack error from Upstate's Megan Healey, Sturch put a stop the Spartan rally and won the game for UNF to tie the match.

USC Upstate took the reins for game three and got out to a 12-6 lead. The Spartans went up by as many as nine. UNF made a late charge at the end, going on a 6-1 run to cut the Upstate lead to 23-20, but it wasn't enough and Upstate sealed the third game win on a kill from Jessicah Ambrisco.

The Lady Ospreys will head to Johnson City, Tenn., to take on East Tennessee State at 2 p.m. tomorrow. The match will be shown live on asun.tv.