Boxscore (PDF) SPARTANBURG, S.C. – University of North Florida volleyball fell in a tight 3-2 match at USC Upstate (23-25, 25-17, 25-19, 21-25, 17-15) on Friday night at the Hodge Center.
"It was a tough match tonight," said head coach Steve Loeswick. "Although we struggled with our serving and passing tonight, I'm really proud of the effort we had from several people off the bench. We need to play better tomorrow against another tough opponent."
Both teams came out on fire in the first set with UNF hitting .486 (17 kills, 35 attack, no errors) and USC Upstate at .341 (20 kills, 44 attack and five errors). USC Upstate went up 18-16 on a Shannon Weiss kill, but a
Courtney Miller kill and a Spartan ball handling error allowed the Ospreys to quickly tie the set at 18-18. Control of the set flip-flopped between the two teams. USC Upstate gained a one-point lead as a Kayla Eversgerd kill made it 23-22. UNF answered with a set-ending three-point run to go up 1-0 in the match.
The Ospreys battled through an error-plagued second-set. The Spartans took advantage of UNF's miscues to go up by seven on several occasions, including at 17-10 with an Osprey attack error. Although UNF fought back to pull to within four, USC Upstate ended the set with a 5-2 run to even the match at 1-1.
Despite hitting .282 in the third set, UNF was unable to counter a consistent hitting USC Upstate team that hit .400 (15 kills, 35 total attack, one error). Multiple runs separated the Spartans from UNF as the Ospreys found themselves trailing by as much as seven at various points in the set. The Ospreys were able to cut USC Upstate's lead down to five on a
Morgan Van Alstine kill at 23-18. However, after trading points, the Spartans used a UNF service error to win the set and go up 2-1 in the match.
Up by one late in the fourth set, UNF used a critical four-point run to distance itself from USC Upstate. A kill from
Cameron McGuire sparked the spurt that put the Ospreys up 22-17. USC Upstate chipped away at the Ospreys' leading, coming to within two at 23-21 on a kill from Lexi Gober. UNF captured the set's final two points with kills from
Madison Hatcher and Van Alstine in order to force a fifth set.
With 13 ties and seven lead changes, UNF and USC Upstate battled for the fifth set. The Ospreys had match point twice. Tied at 13-13, McGuire and Hatcher came up with a huge block that gave UNF the 14-13 lead. After USC Upstate tied it on an Osprey block error, a McGuire kill put the Ospreys up 15-14. However, a kill from Emily Koelling started a costly, match-ending three-point run for the Spartans.
Van Alstine led UNF with 13 kills and hit .423 for the match.
Tessa Alyman and Ccarina Hoff added 11 and 10 kills, respectively.
Abby Fesl tallied 48 assists, while
Cari Whitmire added 24 digs.
UNF hit .232 for the match and made 67 kills and 80 digs.
USC Upstate had three players with a double-double. Kayla McAvoy registered a 14-kill, 11-dig performance, while Eversgerd had 12 kills and 14 digs. Lexi Gober tallied 50 assists and 12 digs. Alexa Lagaly and Koelling added 13 and 10 kills, respectively, while Weiss made 14 digs.
The Spartans hit .233 and tallied 63 kills and 72 assists.
UNF plays its final road match of the regular season on Saturday at Kennesaw State. Match time is set for 3 p.m., and the match will air live on ESPN3.
