Volleyball Opens Home Schedule This Weekend

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – University of North Florida volleyball begins play on its home court this weekend when Florida Atlantic and Mississippi Valley State visit UNF Arena. The Ospreys host Florida Atlantic on Friday at 7 p.m., and Mississippi Valley State on Saturday at 3 p.m.

"This is another exciting weekend," said head coach Steve Loeswick. "We face two different challenges with matches against Florida Atlantic and Mississippi Valley State. Both teams will test us in various ways. We have been hard at work this past week, and we are looking forward to being on our home court in front of our fans."

UNF comes off a 2-2 showing at last weekend's Holiday Inn Select/UCF Invitational. All four of the Ospreys' matches were 3-0 sweeps as UNF defeated Alabama State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff, but fell to host UCF and eventual tournament champion Valparaiso. Senior Anna Budinska earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team after posting 40 kills and registering double-digit kills in three of the four matches. Budinska was also one of two Ospreys to record a double-double on the weekend, tallying an 11-kill, 10-dig match against UCF. Freshman Abby Fesl was the other Osprey with a double-double, having 27 assists and 10 digs against Valparaiso for her first collegiate double-double.

Home openers and home-opening weekends have fallen to the Ospreys' favor. Since 1993 when the Ospreys started playing at UNF Arena, UNF is 16-4 in its first home match of the year. Additionally, UNF is 26-17 during home-opening weekend. Home-court advantage particularly fell to the Ospreys' favor last year as UNF was 10-3 at UNF Arena, including 3-0 during its home-opening weekend.

Florida Atlantic gets its first road test of the weekend, making the trip to participate in the Hilton Garden Inn Invitational at Jacksonville. Florida Atlantic's match with UNF is not part of the tournament. The Owls, who face Mississippi Valley State Friday morning, began the 2013 season with a 2-1 performance at its own FAU Invitational Hosted by Embassy Suites. However, the Owls are currently 0-1 against Atlantic Sun teams this season after falling 3-1 to Jacksonville last weekend. Alessia Pizzoccheri (29 kills), Jennifer St. Sume (27) and Kristi Tekavec (25) account for nearly 60 percent of Florida Atlantic's kills in 2013. Pizzoccheri also comes off an 11-kill, 18-dig double-double against Bethune-Cookman in the final match of the FAU Invitational.

Florida Atlantic holds a 5-2 lead in the all-time series, but UNF won the last meeting. The Ospreys defeated the Owls 3-2 on Aug. 28, 2009 at the UCF Fall Classic.

Mississippi Valley State is also participating in Jacksonville's Hilton Garden Inn Invitational this weekend. Like the UNF-FAU match, the Devilettes' match with UNF is not part of the tournament. The Devilettes played a mid-week match at Tougaloo (NAIA), but that match ended with Mississippi State up 1-0 after the first set due to Tougaloo only having five players able to play after the first set. Mississippi Valley State has started the season 1-3, picking up a 3-0 win over Philander Smith, but falling in all three matches at the Kathy Trosclair Memorial Tournament. Halle Gayten and Taylor Delaire lead the Devilettes with 14 kills each in 2013. Delaire also has 10 blocks on the season, while Steffi Rodriguez, who was named All-Tournament last weekend, has 32 digs for the year.

Saturday will be the first meeting between UNF and Mississippi Valley State.

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Volleyball Opens Home Schedule This Weekend

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