Volleyball | 11/12/2015 12:00:00 PM
JACKSONVILLE -- The North Florida volleyball team wraps up the regular season portion of their schedule this weekend with a pair of home matches against Atlantic Sun rivals Kennesaw State and USC Upstate. The Ospreys host KSU, Friday at 7 p.m., before welcoming the Spartans, Saturday at 3 p.m. in UNF Arena.
UNF enters the final weekend looking to secure a spot in the upcoming Atlantic Sun Championship tournament. The Ospreys own a 19-10 overall mark and are currently fifth in the Atlantic Sun with a mark of 5-7. The top six squads qualify for the tournament with
North Florida needing one more victory or a USC Upstate loss to claim a spot in the tournament field.With this being the final scheduled weekend of competition, North Florida will recognize its senior trio of
Kayla Fessler,
Tessa Alyman and
Ambre Desaulnay during a post-match ceremony on Saturday.
The Ospreys enter the weekend having won two of their last three matches including road victories over Stetson and NJIT. UNF dropped a hard fought match at league leading Lipscomb in their last outing. North Florida has enjoyed some success at home this season posting a 6-3 record in UNF Arena.
Fessler, a native of Rochester, N.Y., is the squad's lone four-year senior. During her career she has seen time as both libero and defensive specialist. She has averaged 1.53 digs per set in her career that has included playing in 88 matches. Fessler has also notched 31 service aces and handed out 46 assists.
A native of North Bay, Canada, Alyman leads the team this season in kills with 276 (3.07 kps) and is third in digs with 179 and fourth in blocks with 42. She heads into the final matches of her two-year UNF career having accumulated 544 career kills (2.79 kps), 278 digs (1.43 dps) and 88 blocks (0.45 bps). She garnered All-Tournament honors this season at both the Dish Tennessee Volleyball Classic and the Courtyard Mayo Classic and recorded a team season high 24 kills in a match against Eastern Kentucky.
Desaulnay, a native of Villeneuve-Loubet, France, is also wrapping up a two-year career with the Ospreys. She has recorded 159 kills and 175 digs this season, ranking sixth and fourth on the squad, respectively.
Kennesaw State is currently third in the Atlantic Sun standings at 8-4 in league play and 16-7 overall. The Owls have won two in a row and six of their last seven. In the first meeting between the UNF and KSU, the Owls earned a 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-22, 26-24) victory at home. Anaiah Boyer averages 3.00 kills per set to lead Kennesaw State and rank 10th in the conference, while setter Kristi Piedimonte ranks fourth in the league with 9.42 assists per set.
USC Upstate enters the weekend in seventh place in the ASun with a 3-9 league mark and a 15-13 overall record. The Spartans trail Stetson by one match for the final spot in the tournament field. Upstate has won two of their last three matches but dropped a 5-set decision against the Ospreys in the pairs first meeting of the season. In that match, the Owls grabbed the early 2-0 lead before watching UNF rally back with three straight set wins. Emily Koelling paces the Upstate offense averaging 2.71 kills per set and the Owls defense boasts a trio of players averaging over 3.0 digs per set led by Kayla Eversgerd at 3.75. In addition, USC Upstate features the league's top three ranked players in service aces.
Following this weekend's matches, North Florida hopes to continue the season with postseason play in the Atlantic Sun Tournament beginning Thursday, Nov. 19 in Nashville, Tenn.
