Boxscore (PDF) JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Despite recording 15.0 total blocks, University of North Florida volleyball could not hold off Atlantic Sun leader Lipscomb and fell 3-2 (25-18, 23-25, 11-25, 25-14, 15-13) on Friday night at UNF Arena. It was the second time this season in which the Ospreys made 15.0 blocks against the Lady Bisons.
"Lipscomb is a very talented and well-coached team and our girls enjoy playing teams at that level," said head coach Steve Loeswick. "Tonight, we did a nice job at fighting through a long match. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make a couple of plays at the end of the fifth set to put us on top. We still played well and played hard and I'm still excited to see what this team can accomplish."
In the first set, the Ospreys came the within one on a kill by
Carina Hoff to make it 15-14. However, Lipscomb answered with a costly four-point run that put the Lady Bisons up 19-14. Even though UNF pulled to within three on a
Morgan Van Alstine-
Cameron McGuire block at 20-17, Lipscomb finished the set on a 5-1 run.
UNF held an early 12-6 advantage in the second set, taking the six-point lead on a Van Alstine kill. Lipscomb battled back and eventually used a five-point run to tie the set at 18-18. Three more ties occurred in the set, including at 22-22. A kill from McGuire broke the tie and UNF went up 24-22 with a
Kayla Fessler service ace. Lipscomb took advantage of a service error on the next point to stay alive, but
Tessa Alyman made the set-winning kill to even the match at 1-1.
The Ospreys came out on fire in the third set and forced Lipscomb to make an uncharacteristic 13 errors. UNF hit .385 for the set with 10 kills and no attack errors and came up with 7.0 total blocks in the set alone.
"We jumped on them early and got them out of system," said Loeswick. "Our block got hot and touched a lot of balls right at the net. Unfortunately, you've got to win three out of the five sets. It was great that we played well that set, but we've got to put together that type of play throughout the entire match."
Already up by four in the third set, UNF further distanced itself with a six-point run to go up 18-9. A block from
Courtney Miller and Van Alstine provided UNF with its 11-point lead. The Ospreys finished the set on a 7-2 run to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Lipscomb responded with a strong fourth set to stay alive. Down by five, UNF fought back to come to within one, using a Lady Bisons' attack error to make it 12-11. However, Lipscomb broke away from UNF with a three-point spurt. Lipscomb later used a six-point run to go up 23-13. A kill from McGuire halted the Lady Bisons' run, but kills from Lauren Ford and Brittnay Estes won the set and forced a fifth set.
Battling for control throughout the entire fifth set, UNF went up 9-8 with an ace from
Abby Fesl. As the teams traded points, Lipscomb went on a three-point run to take a 12-10 lead. UNF made it a one-point set twice, but a Sophie Kellerman kill sealed the match for Lipscomb.
Van Alstine and Hoff notched nine and eight blocks, respectively. Fesl led UNF with a 29-assist, 17-dig double-double. Miller added 13 kills, while
Cari Whitmire made 23 digs.
UNF hit .158 for the match, making 52 kills and 72 digs.
Lauren Ford made a match-high 23 kills for Lipscomb, while Sophie Kellerman added an 11-kill, 13-dig double-double. Jordan Huston put up 47 assists, while Bri McCombs made 16 digs.
Lipscomb registered 56 kills and hit .160 for the match. The Lady Bisons also had 72 digs and 10.0 blocks.
UNF returns to action on Saturday against Northern Kentucky at 3 p.m., at UNF Arena.
