UNF-USC Upstate Live StatsUNF-Kennesaw State Live StatsUNF-USC Upstate ESPN 3 Broadcast SPARTANBURG, S.C. – University of North Florida volleyball plays its first two Atlantic Sun away matches this weekend as the Ospreys have challenging matches at USC Upstate and Kennesaw State. UNF faces USC Upstate at the Hodge Center at 6 p.m., on Friday and then play Kennesaw State on Saturday at 3 p.m., at the KSU Convocation Center.
"These are two difficult road matches against two very much improved teams, which will make for a very challenging weekend," said head coach
Steve Loeswick. "We will be prepared and hope to keep playing solid volleyball."
UNF enters the weekend with the most overall wins in the Atlantic Sun, coming in with a 13-3 overall mark. The Ospreys are also 1-0 in the conference after posting a 3-2 victory over Jacksonville last Friday night at UNF Arena.
Riding a nine-match winning streak, the Ospreys come off a 3-1 victory on Tuesday night at Bethune-Cookman. Strong hitting powered UNF to a .340 hitting percentage, setting a new program record for a four-set match.
Top 10 Offensive Power: UNF is the only team in the Atlantic Sun to have three players in the Top 10 for hitting percentage.
Katarina Raicevic ranks third in the conference with a .347 hitting percentage, while
Carina Hoff (fifth, .333) and
Erin Edwards (10th, .289) are listed in the Top 10.
Let's Play 5: Each of the last four weekends has included one five-set match for the Ospreys. UNF had its first five-set match of the season against Eastern Kentucky on Sept. 4. Since then, the Ospreys have gone and won in five sets against Florida Atlantic (Sept. 12), Wright State (Sept. 18) and Jacksonville (Sept. 25). UNF is 4-0 this season in five sets.
USC Upstate: Only other Atlantic Sun school to enter the weekend with double-digit wins... spent majority of its first month of competition on the road and is only 2-0 at home thus far in the season... began Atlantic Sun play with a 3-2 loss at Kennesaw State on Saturday... leads the Atlantic Sun in kills (13.55), aces (1.83) and digs (18.34)... Shannon Weiss (0.53) and Madison Haake (0.48) ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the Atlantic Sun in aces per set... Haake averages 3.13 kills per set, while Emily Koelling has a team-best 173 total kills... Lexi Gober averages 9.31 assists per set... Weiss is digging 4.58 balls per set.
UNF-USC Upstate Series: UNF leads the all-time series 31-7, but last season, each team won 3-2 on its home court.
Kennesaw State: Has won its last two matches, both of which were at home and included a 3-1 victory over Georgia Tech (Sept. 18) and a 3-2 edging of USC Upstate... begins the weekend on Friday night against Jacksonville... Saturday's match finishes a five-match homestand... has limited opponents to just a .157 hitting percentage... a trio of Owls -- Sydni Shelton (2.93), Kelly Marcinek (2.82) and Anaiah Boyer (2.63) -- average over 2.50 kills per set... Shelton was tabbed as the Atlantic Sun's Player and Freshman of the Week on Sept. 28... Kristi Piedimonte averages 9.62 assists per set, while Katarina Morton is averaging 4.49 digs per set.
UNF-Kennesaw State Series: Kennesaw State leads the all-time series 8-6, but UNF swept last season's series, winning 3-1 in Jacksonville on Oct. 17 and then 3-2 on Nov. 1 in Kennesaw.
