ORLANDO -- The University of North Florida volleyball team closed its opening weekend of competition with a tough 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 9-25, 16-25) loss to UCF Saturday night at the Courtyard by Marriott/UCF Classic.

Paige Pridgeon and Anna Budinska each tallied 12 kills for the Ospreys, who slipped to 1-2 on the year. Sophomore setter Britt Claessens finished with 30 assists while senior Nicole Baran led the way defensively with 13 digs.

The Knights were led offensively by 16 kills from Angelica Crump and 41 assists for Rachel Vukson, who also finished with 10 digs for a double-double performance. Meredith Murphy paced the UCF backline with 22 digs while Tory McCutcheon collected seven blocks for the Knights' front row.

The Ospreys grabbed the early advantage outlasting UCF with a 25-21 victory in game one. UNF hit .297 in the opening frame finishing with 16 kills.

Game two was another closely contested frame with UCF edging the Ospreys by three points (25-22) to even the match score at 1-1. The Knights controlled play in the third game holding UNF to a -.219 hitting performance en route to a 25-9 win. UCF stepped up offensively in the fourth game posting a match high .382 performance (16 kills, 3 errors) to close out the victory with a 25-16 win.

Budinska was named to the All-Tournament team for her consistent play during the event.

Next up for North Florida is a trip to Winston-Salem, N.C., for the Deacon Invitational hosted by Wake Forest on Sept. 2-4.