Boxscore (PDF)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – University of North Florida volleyball dropped a close 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 29-27) match to Lipscomb on Saturday afternoon at UNF Arena.
Anna Budinska and
Abby Fesl each had a double-double for the Ospreys. Budinska tallied 12 kills and 10 digs for her seventh double-double of the year. Fesl had 30 assists and 13 digs. Meanwhile,
Cameron McGuire had her second-straight .400 match, hitting .412 against the Lady Bisons with nine kills off 17 attempts. Defensively,
Cari Whitmire led the team with 16 digs and
Morgan Van Alstine tallied four block assists.
Jewell Dobton and Lauren Ford tallied 18 and 17 kills, respectively, for Lipscomb. Caitlin Dotson put up a 42-assist, 13-dig double-double. Bri McCombs added 19 digs.
Both teams hit well in the first set with Lipscomb hitting .300 (18 kills, 40 attempts, six errors) and UNF going .294 (13 kills, 34 attempts, three errors). The teams remained with a couple of points of each other until Lipscomb had a late three-point run. With the Lady Bisons' already up 19-18, an Osprey service error was the first the three-consecutive points that allowed Lipscomb to take a four-point, 22-18 lead. Although UNF cut the Lady Bisons' lead down to two with kills from Budinska to make it 23-21, Lipscomb responded with back-to-back Claire Peterson kills in order to win the set.
The second set was just as close as the first set and featured 10 ties. The final tie of the set came at 16-16 with an Osprey kill from
Carina Hoff. However, a kill from Brittnay Estes on the next point sparked a four-point Lipscomb run to put the Lady Bisons up 20-16. UNF chipped away at Lipscomb's lead and pulled to within two twice, but a Ford kill ended the set and gave Lipscomb a 2-0 lead in the match.
In the third set, neither team could gain much of a lead as there were 17 ties and 11 lead changes. Three points was the largest lead of the set and Lipscomb had a three-point advantage twice. The first time came after a four-point Lady Bisons' run resulted in a 16-13 advantage. The second time was at 21-18 when the Ospreys committed two-straight attack errors. UNF responded with a four-point run of its own and took a 22-21 lead on a
Madison Hatcher ace. UNF and Lipscomb battled over the last 13 points of the set with the Ospreys having set point on two occasions and Lipscomb being at match point on three. With Lipscomb up 27-26, UNF fended off match point with a McGuire kill. However, Lipscomb got kills from Sophie Kellerman and Ford to get the set's final two points.
UNF returns to the road for its next two matches, traveling to Mercer and Kennesaw State. The Ospreys begin their road trip in Macon, Ga., at Mercer on Friday night with match time at 7 p.m.
