BOX SCORE
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Four players notched double-doubles for the University of North Florida volleyball team, but the Ospreys fell to Atlantic Sun foe Kennesaw State in five sets on Saturday afternoon at UNF Arena.
With scores of 22-25, 25-8, 26-24, 21-25 and 15-12, the Owls picked up the 3-2 win over the Ospreys to improve to 17-11 overall and 11-9 in the Atlantic Sun.
North Florida was led by freshman outside hitter Paige Pridgeon with 21 kills. Pridgeon also had 12 digs for her 11th double-double of the season. Junior middle blocker Kaley Read had 12 kills and 10 digs, while junior outside hitter Nallelis Sanfeliz tallied 11 kills and a team high 16 digs. Junior setter Jessica Catelano had 42 assists and 15 digs.
“I am proud of the way our team played the majority of this match,” said UNF head coach Kevin Campbell. “We had a couple of let down moments, but overall we played emotionally strong and executed pretty well.”
Leading the Owls was Asjia Stokes with 17 kills, while Sabrita Gulley added 15 kills and 11 assists. Rachael Albright and Ginny Frederick had 26 and 17 assists, respectively, while Selina O'Leary tallied 27 digs.
The Ospreys jumped out to a lead in the opening set, taking an 18-10 lead, but the Owls responded with a 7-0 run to close the gap to 18-17 behind the serving of Sabrita Gulley. UNF and KSU would tie at 21 and 22, but back-to-back kills by UNF followed by an ace from junior defensive specialist Chelsea Rabe, gave the Ospreys the 25-22 win and a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second set Kennesaw State took control early, taking a 9-2 lead. UNF was unable to get anything going on the offensive side as the Owls won 25-8, knotting the match at one set each.
The two teams traded points in the third set with UNF holding its largest lead at 6-2 while KSU's largest lead was two several times in the set with the last at 22-20. UNF and KSU were tied at 22, 23 and 24, but back-to-back kills by the Owls secured the set 26-24, giving KSU a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth set was much like the third with a back and forth battle between the two teams with 10 ties. The last tie came at 18 before UNF broke open the scoring behind the attacking of Pridgeon to take a 22-18 lead. The Owls regained possession on the next rally, and would close the gap to 23-21, but a kill by Read and a KSU misstep gave the Ospreys the 25-21 win and knotted the match at two sets each.
KSU jumped out in the deciding set to take an early 10-7 lead, but the Ospreys rallied to go on top 11-10. The Owls tied the set on the next rally, regaining possession to take a 13-11 advantage. UNF would have another chance, but a pair of errors by the Ospreys secured the 15-12 win and the match for the Owls.
This was the final game of the 2009 season for the Ospreys as they finish the season 10-20 overall and 4-16 in the A-Sun.
“This was a season where we saw a lot of talent from our team,” Campbell said. “Unfortunately we were a bit inconsistent at times. We look forward to the spring where we will focus on training to be a more consistent and dominate team next season.”
