Final Boxscore (pdf)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The North Florida volleyball team saw their 2015 campaign come to an end in a hard fought 3-1 (17-25, 25-18, 21-25, 19-25) loss to rival Jacksonville in opening round play of the Atlantic Sun Championship Thursday night at Lipscomb's Allen Arena.

With the loss, the fifth-seed Ospreys finished the season at 21-11 marking the program's second 20-win season in the Division I era and just one victory shy of the school D-I record for season victories. Jacksonville improves to 12-15 and advance to a semifinal matchup on Friday against top-seeded Lipscomb.

First-team All-Conference performer Carina Hoff led the way for the Ospreys finishing with 17 kills and a stellar .438 hitting percentage, her 11th .400 or better outing of the year.

Courtney Miller added 10 kills for UNF. Defensively, Ashley LaBorde collected 19 digs followed by 13 by Carinne Turner and 12 for Abby Fesl, who also led the squad with 30 assists on the night. Morgan Van Alstine paced the Osprey front line with six blocks while Katarina Raicevic added four.

"We certainly don't like to lose but I'm proud of the fight this team showed tonight and all season," said head coach Steve Loeswick. "Our senior class (Tessa Alyman, Ambre Desaulnay, Kayla Fessler) helped create a culture of excellence both on and off the field during their careers. They put their heart and soul into this program and are leaving her with us definitely heading towards great things."

In the opening set, the Ospreys built an early lead and never looked back. Hoff led the squad with four kills and hit .444 for the set. She was helped on the attack by Erin Edwards who had three kills in the first set. The blocking and defense of the Ospreys held Jacksonville's offense in check for the win, 25-17. 

Jacksonville responded in the second set behind the play of Emily Laskelle, who tallied nine kills and led JU to a .364 hitting performance. Neither team held larger than a three-point margin during the frame until the Dolphins closed it out, 25-18, with an ending 6-1 run. 


The evenly matched squads again settled into a back-and-forth battle in set three with the teams trading the lead several times. Jacksonville again made a slight push down the stretch to edge out the 25-21 decision.

Jacksonville surged in front 7-1 at the start of the fourth set only to see the Ospreys chip away at the deficit and eventually knotted the score at 12. After trading sideouts for several rotations, JU inched ahead 20-18 and then closed out the match with a 5-1 spurt.