Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - When momentum builds for the University of North Florida women's volleyball team, it becomes near impossible to beat.
UNF (4-3, 2-0 Atlantic Sun Conference) scored at will against Kennesaw State on Friday night in a smooth 3-0 win (25-13, 25-16, 28-26) at UNF Arena in front of another raucous crowd. The Lady Ospreys hit a season-best .222 and out blocked its opponent for the second match in a row.
Junior Agata Dawidowicz tied the school record for aces in a three-set match with eight and hit a season-high .421 (9-1-19). Sophomore Kaley Read recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs. It was the fourth consecutive match she recorded double-digit kills.
"Agata is getting better as she evolves with the team," head coach Kevin Campbell said. "I was also impressed with Danielle (Lerch). She's had matches where she struggled with her hitting, but tonight she really brought it up. As a team, we came out strong, and I was excited to see them play that way."
The Lady Ospreys set the tone early, taking a permanent lead in the first set at 3-2. UNF went on to score the next six points, five of which were as a result of a Dawidowicz ace. From that point forward, the set was never in doubt. Read hit .429 in the set and notched four kills.
UNF's grip on the second set was just as strong as the first, with the Lady Ospreys jumping out to a 10- 3 lead. The Owls (1-7, 0-2) were never able to get closer than six and didn't helped their cause with an .026 hitting percentage. Dawidowicz and Read teamed up for seven kills, while Read and sophomore Marshay Greenlee each had two blocks.
After leading by as many as seven in the final set, the Lady Ospreys started to let it slip away, allowing KSU to come all the way back and go on to eventually take a 24-23 lead. From there, the set see-sawed back-and-fort until Lerch slipped a crucial ace right by KSU's Asjia Stokes. The Owls handed UNF the win when KSU's Shanice Smith ended it on an attack error.
Lerch tallied a season-high 11 digs, while sophomore Madie Belvin put up 26 assists. UNF committed a season-low 13 attack errors compared to KSU's 23.
The Lady Ospreys will return to action at 3 p.m. on Saturday against A-Sun foe Mercer, which fell 3-0 to Jacksonville on Friday night. Live stats will be available on UNFOspreys.com.
