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Division I Provisional Invitational Blog
Division I Provisional Invitational Central

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The University of North Florida women's volleyball team put together a dominating performance to end its stay strong at the Division I Provisional Invitational on Friday.

UNF (12-17) blasted its way to a season-high .283 hitting percentage (39-13-92) in a 3-0 win (25-13, 25- 21, 25-22) over North Carolina Central. Sophomore Kaley Read and senior Bary Rasmussen carried the Lady Ospreys, combining for 28 kills. Read also had three blocks.

The win buried a 3-0 loss (23-25, 23-25, 21-25) to Presbyterian in the tournament's first match of the day, which took place at 9 a.m. Rasmussen led the Lady Ospreys with 13 kills and a .524 hitting percentage (13-2-21). For the day, she hit .545 (27-3-44) and averaged 4.50 kills per set.

"We started the day flat emotionally and didn't execute well against Presbyterian," head coach Kevin Campbell said. "The team rallied after we changed the lineup a little bit. We had both of our setters, Julie (Fye) and Madie (Belvin), in the lineup and moved Marshay (Greenlee) to the outside instead of the right. With Kaley and Bary in the middle that chemistry seemed to work really well. They seemed really focused, and I was happy with how they played against North Carolina Central."

The Lady Ospreys held NCCU to an .029 hitting percentage (21-19-77) and held the side out advantage 81 percent of the time, including 92 percent in the first set. The Eagles' hitting clip was the lowest for a UNF opponent this season.

UNF got out to a 10-3 lead in the first set against NCCU before the Eagles called a timeout. The Lady Ospreys upped their pressure and outscored NCCU 15-10 to close out the set. UNF was nearly flawless in the first set with no attack errors and a .400 hitting percentage (10-0-25).

Rasmussen saved her best for the second set. She hammered seven kills on her way to a .636 hitting mark. After the set was tied at seven, UNF went on a 4- 0 run that was led by consecutive Rasmussen kills and consecutive aces by sophomore Madie Belvin.

The Lady Ospreys went up by as many as eight before the Eagles pulled to within 20-18. But Rasmussen lifted UNF to seal the set with four kills down the stretch to help the Lady Ospreys outscore NCCU 5-3.

Set three stayed close through the middle before UNF grasped control and went on a 7-2 run to take a 22-17 lead. NCCU came back to pull to within 22-21 but committed two crucial errors to allow Rasmussen to slam a Julie Fye set into the ground to pick up the win. Fye finished the match with 30 assists.

Read had a double-double with 12 kills and a match-high 14 digs in the loss to Presbyterian. Despite hitting a respectable .207 for the match, the Lady Ospreys had a combined 29 attack and service errors. Fye had 35 assists, giving her a total of 65 for the day and came out to 10.83 per set.

With the win against NCCU, UNF assured itself the No. 2 seed from Pool A. The Lady Ospreys will face the Pool B No. 3, Winston-Salem State, at 11 a.m. on Saturday. With a win over the Rams, UNF will move on to the tournament semifinals at 3 p.m. against Central Arkansas. If the Lady Ospreys can defeat UCA, it will move on to the championship match at 7 p.m. With a loss, it will play in the third-place match.