JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida volleyball used a strong offensive night to sweep USC Upstate on Friday in ASUN play. With the win, the Ospreys punch their ticket to next weekend's conference tournament.

UNF 3, USC Upstate 0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-20)

Top Performers
Katarina Raicevic – 16 kills | 6 digs | .371 hitting percentage
Devyn Wheeler – 15 kills | 21 digs | 3 assists | 2 aces
Taryn Griffey – 11 kills | .391 hitting percentage | 4 blocks
Carinne Turner – 38 assists | 8 digs | 3 blocks
Madilyn McCarty – 8 kills | 5 digs | 2 blocks

HOW IT HAPPENED

• In the opening stanza, the Ospreys and Spartans traded runs, leading to a 13-all tie as Wheeler and Raicevic led UNF with two kills each.
• The teams traded quick runs once again to knot the score at 17 before North Florida turned on the attack. The Ospreys closed on an 8-1 run to take the opening set, 25-17.
• The two teams traded leads early on which tied it at 14-all with Raicevic picking up three early kills in the second frame.
• North Florida stayed one step ahead of Upstate the rest of the set to take a 2-0 advantage to the intermission.
• The teams stayed tight to open the third set before Upstate took a 12-9 advantage. 
• Out of a timeout, the Ospreys jumped all over Upstate with an 8-0 run and never looked back en route to a 25-20 sweep of the match.

QUICK HITS

• With her 21 digs, Wheeler set a season-high besting her previous mark of 16 set at Stetson.
• Turner now sits in seventh in program history with 1,671 assists as she dished out 38 helpers against the Spartans.
• With the win, the Ospreys punch their ticket to a fourth straight ASUN tournament.
• The win marks a four-game home win streak - the longest such streak since last season when the Ospreys won four of their last five matches inside UNF Arena.
• The Blue and Gray move to 8-3 when hitting over .200 in a match this season as the team hit .273.

POSTGAME QUOTES
"We knew this was a big weekend for us, but we were excited to have these two matches at home. Upstate creates a lot of challenges for us, but we knew we had to come out and be aggressive and I think we did a good job with that mentality throughout tonight. We struggled early in ASUN play, but we have started to turn a corner and have played some very good volleyball the past few weeks and we are excited for the opportunity to compete in the conference tournament." – Coach Steve Loeswick
 
"It was a really well fought match tonight. We came out and did everything we have trained for in the past week and we did what we needed to do to win. We were confident that we were going to make the tournament this weekend and now that we have seen all the teams so we know how to beat them and know what to expect when we get there." – Carinne Turner

UP NEXT
UNF wraps up the 2017 regular season on Saturday with a 5 p.m. start against NJIT for senior day. The Ospreys will honor seniors Carinne Turner, Sadie Thurston, Katarina Raicevic and Carina Hoff for their contributions to the North Florida volleyball program following tomorrow's match.