JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida volleyball heads to New Orleans to take part in the Tulane Invite featuring Alabama State, Northwestern State and Tulane.
OPENING SERVE
The Ospreys are coming off of a 1-2 weekend at the Georgia Tech Invite where they defeated Xavier, but fell to Kansas State and host Georgia Tech.
NOTES
- Coming off of her ASUN Defensive Player of The Week award, junior Ashley LaBorde enters the weekend with 128 digs which puts her in a tie for fifth in the league. LaBorde set a season-high with 23 digs in the Ospreys four-set win over Xavier at Georgia Tech.
- Junior Alana Shoff with her ASUN leading 51 blocks which also ranks 20th in the nation heading into the weekend.
- Madilyn McCarty continues to rack up the assists as she currently has 256 which ranks fourth in the ASUN heading into the weekend.
QUOTABLES
"First I would like to thank the Spring Hill College athletic department and their volleyball staff for letting us use their gym this week while we are still on the road avoiding hurricane Irma. We have had plenty of team bonding time, but we also have players and staff from Florida and our thoughts have not strayed far from family members. We are glad Jacksonville and the rest of Florida is rebounding quickly. We have a good tournament this weekend as all the teams will give us different challenges. Our team is ready to be back competing on the court." - Coach
Steve Loeswick
OPPONENTS
- Alabama State comes into play on a two match winning streak with victories over Western Carolina and Jacksonville. Briana Dorsey leads the Hornets with 42 blocks and a .374 hitting percentage.
- Northwestern State enters the weekend with a 4-7 record following a five-set victory on Tuesday over ULM. The Lady Demons are led by Reagan Rogers with 126 kills while she's added a team high 14 aces with Kathryn Wristen is the current leader in the Southland Conference with 350 assists.
- Tulane enters on a three match win streak defeating Southern Miss, Nicholls State and Oklahoma in its home tournament last weekend. Lexie Douglas leads the Green Wave with 95 kills and 78 digs while Justine Bowers leads the Green Wave with 212 assists.
SERIES HISTORY
The Ospreys have won their only meeting against Alabama State coming back in August of 2015 when UNF won in straight sets.
The Blue and Gray are set to battle both Northwestern State and Tulane for the first time in program history on Saturday.
UP NEXT
UNF and Florida A&M were originally slated to play in Jacksonville on Tuesday, but the match has moved to Tallahassee. The two teams now play at UNF on September 27 at 6 p.m. Following Tuesday's match, the Ospreys return to UNF Arena for the first battle against Jacksonville on the season next Friday at 7:00 p.m.
