BOX SCORE
BOONE, N.C. – The University of North Florida volleyball team defeated Appalachian State, 3-1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-21, 27-25) on Saturday in the second match of the day at the Appalachian State Invitational at the Holmes Center in Boone, N.C. UNF will take on William & Mary this evening in the 5:00 p.m. match of the day.
“Our team played a great match against Appalachian State today,” said UNF head volleyball coach Kevin Campbell. “We were able to play a lot of our players today and it really was a team effort.”
Senior outside hitter, Agata Dawidowicz led the way for the Ospreys (4-2) with 20 kills and 13 digs. Junior middle blocker, Kaley Read added 18 kills and 11 digs. Setters Jessica Catelano and Julie Fye combined for 55 assists with 39 and 16, respectively.
For the Mountaineers, Maja Jachorek had 15 kills while Kelsey Kuehner posted 13 kills. Kasey Sauls tallied 35 assists and Cassie Engelgau had 18 digs.
App. State took an early, 7-3 lead in the first set, but the Ospreys came back to tie the set seven with and ace from Fye and a pair of kills from Dagnija Medina and Nallelis Sanfeliz. ASU pulled ahead again, but UNF would not back down and again tied the set at 12 off a Dawidowicz kill. The two teams kept the score close with ties at 13, 16, 17 and 18. The Ospreys took their first lead up 19-18 with a kill from Sanfeliz. UNF never looked back as they went on a 6-2 run to close out the set and take the 1-0 (25-20) advantage in the match.
ASU came out strong in the second set, taking a 5-1 advantage. The Mountaineers maintained the lead until UNF tied the set at 13. UNF forced another tie at 18, but that is as close as the Ospreys would come to taking the lead in the second set. ASU picked up the 25-20 win to knot the match at two sets each.
North Florida took a 7-4 lead in the third set, but ASU tied the set up at eight. The Ospreys went on another run extending the lead to 13-9 off a kill from Dawidowicz. App State responded with a run of its own, closing the gap to two (16-14) but UNF maintained the advantage. The Mountaineers threatened late, pulling within one at 20-19, but that is as close as the Ospreys would allow them to get as UNF won set three 25-21, taking the 2-1 lead in the match.
In the fourth set App State grabbed the early lead, but North Florida responded and took its first lead at 13-12. The teams battled back and forth over the next several rallies with nine ties, the last at 21. UNF went on a run and held match point (24-22) off a kill from Danielle Lerch, but ASU responded and tied the set again at 24, forcing the extra points. A kill and a block from Medina pulled the Ospreys into the lead, 26-25 and put UNF again in the position to take the set. An error by App State gave the Ospreys the needed point for the 27-25 win in set four, securing the match.
