BOX SCORE

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The University of North Florida volleyball team downed Stetson in three straight sets for the win Saturday in Deland, Fla.

The win improved the Ospreys to 9-13 overall and 4-9 in Atlantic Sun play, while the Hatters fell to 1-19 and 0-13 in conference play. UNF captured the first set by a close 27-25 margin before cruising in sets two and three, 25-13 and 25-19, respectively.

Junior middle blocker Kaley Read led UNF with 19 kills, while junior outside hitter Danielle Lerch totalled 10 kills on the day. Read hit .395 on the day and also led the way in blocks for the match with one solo and four assists. 

Junior setter Jessica Catelano tallied a match-high 36 assists, while freshman libero Nicole Baran had a match-high 12 digs. Freshman outside hitter Paige Pridgeon added on eight kills and senior outside hitter Agata Dawidowicz had five.

"The team played very well," said UNF head coach Kevin Campbell.  "We started out a little tentative in game one but really game on strong in games two and three. We played very well defensively and offensively and blocked well. We had a good match. We did what we were supposed to do. We are looking forward to the upcoming match with Bethune-Cookman and the upcoming conference match against USC-Upstate. We just want to try and get better each day."

Set one was a back and forth battle that had no team leading by more than two points until Stetson went ahead 16-13. UNF battled back to tie the match at 16 and finally took its first lead of the first set at 20-19 on a kill by Read. Things would not get any easier as Stetson rebounded to take a 24-23 lead and had match point before the Ospreys knotted the score at 24-all. After being tied again at 25, Pridgeon put UNF ahead 26-25 and an attack error by Stetson gave North Florida the the first set.

The Opsreys started out strong in set two, going ahead 6-1 early, before Stetson rallied to tie the set at 7-all. After regrouping and leading 11-10, UNF went on a 9-0 run to stretch its lead to 20-10. Read and Pridgeon both had two kills in the run. North Florida easily closed out the set and finished it off at 25-13 for a 2-0 match lead. 

Set three saw Stetson go up early at 7-4 before an ace and two kills by Read tied the score at seven. UNF led 11-10 before a mini-spurt jumped the lead to 14-10 on a Read solo block. The Hatters sliced the lead to 17-15 before Read and Catelano kills helped push the lead back to 20-15. 23-19 was as close at Stetson would get before the Ospreys closed out the match 25-19 for the 3-0 victory.