@OspreyVB Opens 2014 Campaign at Duke Invitational

Weekly Notes
2014 Volleyball Almanac
Live Stats (all three matches)
UNF-Duke Live Video (subscription required)

DURHAM, N.C. – University of North Florida volleyball begins the 2014 season with the two-day Duke Invitational Friday and Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Ospreys start the tournament with No. 21 Duke at Noon and Furman at 5 p.m., on Friday. Season-opening weekend concludes on Saturday with High Point at 1 p.m.

"This is tremendous way to start the season and we couldn't be more excited to against this strength of competition," said head coach Steve Loeswick. "I'm happy with where our team is coming into this weekend, but our team is focused on continuing to progress as the year goes on and strive to play that high-intense volleyball I know this group is capable of playing."

The Duke Invitational is the first of four consecutive tournaments for the Ospreys. The first 14 matches on UNF's schedule are in a tournament format. In Loeswick's first two years, UNF has compiled a 9-9 record in six regular season tournaments.

Friday's match with No. 21 Duke marks the second time under Loeswick in which the Ospreys face a nationally-ranked team during opening weekend. The first occurrence happened during Loeswick's first season when UNF played No. 23 Michigan at the 2012 Missouri Tiger Invitational.

UNF returns 10 players from a year ago, including Atlantic Sun All-Freshman selections Abby Fesl and Morgan Van Alstine. Fesl, who emerged as the team's primary setter in 2013, was named the Atlantic Sun's inaugural Preseason Setter of the Year earlier this month. Also back for the Ospreys are the team's top four blockers in Cameron McGuire (117 total blocks), Van Alstine (83 total blocks), Carina Hoff (64 total blocks) and Erin Edwards (59 total blocks).

About the Opponents:
Duke: The 2013 ACC Champion enters the season ranked No. 21 in the AVCA Preseason Poll. The Blue Devils reached the 2013 NCAA Tournament as the No.16 seed, but only advanced to the second round after being upset 3-0 by American. Duke returns five starters, including Emily Sklar (ACC Player of the year, Third-Team All-America), Maggie Deichmeister (Honorable Mention All-America) and Jeme Obeime (Honorable Mention All-America).

UNF-Duke Series: First meeting.

Furman: The Paladins went 17-12 overall a year ago and advanced to the Southern Conference semifinals. Furman was picked to finish second in the SoCon Preseason Poll and has the conference's previous two Freshman of the Year selections in Jo Wilks (2012) and Ashton Gregory (2013). Wilks is one of the top setters in program history, while Gregory led the Paladins in attack percentage (.342) and blocks (112) in 2013.

UNF-Furman Series: Furman leads the series 1-0 after winning 3-1 at the Winthrop Invitational on Sept. 10, 2005.

High Point: The Panthers posted a 16-15 overall record in the Big South and reached the conference tournament semifinals last season. Picked to finish fourth in the Big South, High Point brings back 10 players. Among the returners are Big South Freshman of the Year selection Savannah Angel and All-Conference honorees Chelsea Davis and Kristin Heldt.

UNF-High Point Series: UNF leads 1-0 after winning 3-0 on Oct. 8, 1994 at High Point in the series' only meeting.

Live stats will be provided for all three of the Ospreys' matches at the Duke Invitational. Subscription-based live video will be available for the UNF-Duke match only. Fans can also follow the Ospreys on Twitter (@OspreyVB) throughout the weekend.

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