COLUMBIA, S.C. - North Florida volleyball opened its 2017 season on a high note with a five-set thriller in the opening match of the South Carolina Invitational on Friday afternoon.

UNF 3, Troy 2 (25-19,24-26,21-25,25-23,15-6)

Top Performers of the Day
Carina Hoff – 13 kills | 4 digs
Carinne Turner – 10 kills | 17 digs
Madilyn McCarty- 37 assists | 6 digs
Ashley LaBorde- 11 digs
Taryn Griffey- 9 kills | 7 block assists

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Ospreys opened the match even with the Trojans trading points early on until Troy took a 15-10 lead in the middle of the set. North Florida refocused to take 10 of the next 12 points to hold a 20-17 lead and the Ospreys went on to take the set, 25-19.
 
UNF opened the second set on a 5-2 run, however Troy quickly responded with five straight of its own to take the slim 7-5 lead. Troy continued to keep the margin throughout most of the match pushing it to, 20-14, late in the second set. The Ospreys clawed back and made it, 23-21, and got it to, 24-24, before Troy grabbed the next two points to even the match.
 
Troy again dominated early in the third set as it took its biggest lead of the set at, 13-8, and although the Ospreys battled back, they could not stop the hot-hitting Trojans as Troy owned the 2-1 lead.
 
The teams played even early in the fourth and were even through 12. Both teams traded short runs before knotting the score again at 21. Attack errors and blocks from the Ospreys capped by a kill from Hoff made it 23-21 before North Florida held on to win, 25-23, to force the fifth set.
 
In the fifth set, the Ospreys took care of business as they hit .700 and dominated their way to a 15-6 win in the set for the win. After opening with a close 5-4 margin in the final frame, the Ospreys closed the match on a 11-2 run to win.

Double-Doubles
Carinne Turner – 10 kills, 17 digs

Quick Hits
- North Florida led on the block, 18-9, with Griffey leading with eight block assists, while transfer Alana Shoff tallied seven.
- The Ospreys hit an impressive, .474 in the opening frame and held the Trojans to a .000 hitting percentage.

Coach Loeswick's Thoughts
"Troy did a good job of pressuring our serve/receive and making us earn points throughout the match. I was proud of the teams' fight and the character that they showed to come back from down 2-1 to win the match. We played a lot of people and I like the performance of the players when we did sub throughout the match. I'm happy that we got the win and know we have some better volleyball in us moving forward."
 
Up Next
The Ospreys have a very quick turnaround as they take on Mercer at 10 a.m. on Saturday and will battle host South Carolina at 7 p.m. tomorrow night.