BOX SCORE
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In the championship match of the 2010 Best Western Invitational, the University of North Florida volleyball team fell to Illinois Chicago, 3-1 on Saturday night at UNF Arena. The Ospreys finished tournament 2-2 while the Flames went 3-1 to claim the title.
Sophomore outside hitter Paige Pridgeon tallied 16 kills and 14 digs for the Ospreys (2-8) against UIC (5-4). She posted 84 kills, 48 digs and eight aces on the weekend to earn a spot on the All-Tournament team. Sophomore Nicole Baran had 14 digs against UIC and also earned a place on the All-Tournament team after tallying 63 digs over the weekend. Freshman Britt Claessens notched 31 assists against the Flames.
“I feel like we are taking really clear steps on being better as a team,” said head coach Kevin Campbell. “We've made drastic improvements from the last two weekends and we are getting closer to finding a consistent line up. The team is playing with good energy and is working on a higher level of execution. I'm looking forward to this week's practice to work on some things we saw that need improvement. We are looking forward to next weekend and our tournament at College of Charleston.”
The Flames were led by Casie Sullivan with 16 kills and a match-high 17 digs. Janise Dismuke tallied 11 kills and was named the MVP of the tournament. Jessica Dalke notched 38 assists and Kelsey Safranek had 11 digs. Both were named to the All-Tournament team.
UNF and UIC traded points to open the first set and were tied at 11 before the Flames opened up the scoring to go up 18-13. The Ospreys closed the gap to three at 19-16, but UIC closed out the set with a 6-1 run to win 25-17 and claim a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second set UNF, jumped out to a 15-9 run behind the serving of senior Chelsea Rabe who served nine straight for the Ospreys. The Flames responded to pull within two at 16-14, but UNF went on another serving run behind Claessens to extend its lead to 21-14. UIC would make one more attempt at evening the score, but would only get as close as three (23-20). UNF took set two, 25-21 to even the match at 1-1.
The Flames took control of the third set early and never looked back as UIC went on to win the third set 25-11 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
UNF and UIC were close in the opening part of the fourth set with the Flames holding a two point lead at 12-10. Illinois Chicago opened up the scoring with an 11-3 run. UNF looked to make a late run, scoring several unanswered points, but the deficit was too much to overcome as the Flames took the match with a 25-18 win.
Also on the Best Western Invitational All-Tournament Team are Chattanooga's Courtney Barnes and Charleston Southern's Amy Noles and Amanda Hill.
The Ospreys will be back on the court, Friday, Sept. 17-18 in the College of Charleston Invitational. UNF will face College of Charleston at 7 p.m. on the 17th followed by matches on the 18th against Central Michigan (10:30 a.m.) and Radford (5 p.m.).
