Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Senior Bary Rasmussen shined on her night against Atlantic Sun Conference first-place team Florida Gulf Coast on Friday at UNF Arena.
UNF's lone senior, Rasmussen was honored before the match for her contributions to the program as part of Senior Night. The Gainesville, Fla., middle blocker moved into seventh place alone in the UNF career record book for block assists with 197 and hit .400 (5-1-10) in UNF's tough 3-0 loss (10-25, 23- 25, 18-25) to the Eagles.
"Bary is our consistency," head coach Kevin Campbell said. "She always closes the block and plays hard. She has been an emotional leader for us this year and will be the part of the puzzle that will be missed. Hopefully our players can become more like her in the future."
Sophomore Danielle Lerch had one of her strongest performances of the season, blasting 12 kills and recording a .370 hitting percentage (12-2-27). The Lady Ospreys (11-15, 9-10 A-Sun) had a much improved performance against FGCU (20-7, 18-1) compared to the teams' Oct. 11 match in Fort Myers, Fla., where the Eagles won 3-0 (25-8, 25-21, 25-14).
"There were moments where we played great volleyball," Campbell said. "The hiccup for us was we didn't string enough of those moments together at one time. We're a young team, and we're prone to inopportune mistakes, so we need to find consistency. That's the next step in our team's evolution."
The Lady Ospreys put themselves in prime position to put a scare into FGCU in the second when they got out to a 14-7 lead after Lerch hammered two- straight kills on assists from freshman Julie Fye. Lerch recorded a total of four kills in the jolt out in front.
The Eagles turned the table, however, and marched back to take a 17-16 lead, led by two consecutive aces by Ana Kokanovic. Sophomore Marshay Greenlee responded with a monster kill that knotted the score at 17, and an error by FGCU's Holly Youngquist gave UNF an 18-17 advantage.
Florida Gulf Coast grabbed a 23-20 lead, but UNF continued to hang tough and pulled to within 23-22 when Read dropped in a service and within 24-23 when Lerch slammed home a kill. Despite the momentum shifting in their favor, a crucial service error by Fye handed the Eagles the second set win. Lerch notched seven kills in the set and hit .538 (7-0- 13).
Greenlee tallied seven kills, while Fye finished with 24 assists. Sophomore Kaley Read finished with a team-high seven digs. UNF's loss broke a two-match home win streak.
The Lady Ospreys will return to action at 3 p.m. on Saturday at UNF Arena in their final home match of the season. Live stats and video will available on UNFOspreys.com.
