Volleyball Drops Pair of Four-Set Matches to ECU, Wake Forest

Friday, September 6

Jacksonville, Fla.

10 a.m.

University of North Florida

1-3

ECU

4-0

ECU

UNF

Gabby O'Connell rears her arm back to connect with a serve.

Volleyball Drops Pair of Four-Set Matches to ECU, Wake Forest

9/6/2019 10:54:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Askew, O’Connell Post a Pair of Big Nights in Home Opener

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - East Carolina (3-0) got the better end of a grind-it-out four-set match to open the morning, 3-1, but UNF responded with strength to take the opening set from Wake Forest (5-0) in the nightcap before the visiting Demon Deacons upended North Florida (1-4), 3-1, Friday, Sept. 6 from the UNF Arena.

ECU 3, UNF 1 (17-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-27)
Inside the Sets

Set 1: Solimar Cestero came out strong, putting up a team-high four kills in the first set … ECU hit .444, its best clip of the match to establish a 1-0 lead.
Set. 2: Julianna Askew notched 11 assists in the second set alone in her first match at the UNF Arena … There were eight ties in the third set … UNF came back from a 19-15 deficit to cut it to 20-19, but ECU staved off the Ospreys' comeback.
Set 3: The Ospreys got the edge in the third set by holding the Pirates to a .147 hitting percentage … Gabby O'Connell, Cestero and Miriam Stingl all collected three assists … Emma Dixon had three block assists.
Set. 4: The final set was a wild one, seeing 18 tie scores and 13 lead changes … Tied 24-24, the Pirates got kills from Bri Wood, Sydney Kleinman and a UNF error on the attack to close out the set and the match.

Leaders By the Numbers
UNF

Askew | 42 assists, three aces
O'Connell | 12 kills, nine digs
Cestero | 10 kills
Griffey | 12 kills
Dixon | Four blocks
Moro | 15 digs

ECU

Kleinman | 18 kills, .433 hitting percentage
Sydney Hall | 12 kills
Shelby Martin | 29 assists, 12 digs

Wright's Words
"We have a lot of new people on the floor and I think we needed to get some of those jitters out," head coach Kristen Wright said. "We won the serve and pass game and sided-out a little bit better than them [in the third set]. I felt like we were calmer versus the other sets in which we were chasing a bit. Win or lose we need to be patient with this group. We have eight new people and six freshman that have played and will play. We have to give them time to grow but also have that expectation at the same time that we are here to win."

Wake Forest 3, UNF 1 (25-19, 23-25, 12-25, 21-25)
Inside the Sets

Set 1: Taryn Griffey started with 4 kills on the Ospreys first 11 points … O'Connell connected on six kills, as did Griffey, as UNF lead nearly the entire opening set.
Set 2: Set two saw back-and-forth action, leading to a 19-17 UNF lead late in the second set … Wake scored scored five straight, helping to take the 21-19 lead … Griffey and O'Connell posted kills and a Wake attack error put UNF ahead, 22-21 … A pair of UNF errors, a Caroline Rassenfoss kill and a service error gave Wake the set.
Set 3: Wake Forest took an early 9-2 lead, hitting .333 to just .095 for the Ospreys in the third set as it went up, 2-1.
Set 4: Wake led the entire fourth set … UNF made it interesting, roaring back on the wings of O'Connell's explosive offensive night, cutting a set-long deficit to only 22-19 … Three kills by the Demon Deacons staved off the rally.

Leaders By the Numbers
UNF

O'Connell | 20 kills, seven digs
Griffey | 12 kills
Askew | 41 assists
Moro | 27 digs

Wake Forest

Peyton Suess | 12 kills
Olivia Saunders | 12 kills, eight blocks
Madeline Holt | 32 assists, 18 digs

Notes

It was O'Connell's fourth double-digit kill performance in five matches.
Cestero posted 10 kills in her first appearance of 2019.
UNF is 1-1 against East Carolina all-time.
North Florida falls to 0-1 against Wake Forest and 0-6 all-time against ACC foes.
This is the first time in program history that UNF has hosted an ACC team.
Wake Forest hadn't dropped a set this season.
O'Connell was three kills shy of her career-high.

Wright's Words
"We did a really good job in our scouting report and executing our game plan, and then they had a little bit of a unique adjustment in their lineup that prevented us from taking the second set off of them," Wright said. "We showed some promise with what we are building and you can see the process. In set one you could see the pieces operating all at the same time. Julianna, again as a freshman, didn't play like a freshman tonight. She played like a second or third-year setter, and I was proud of her. Our leader, O'Connell, was a leader tonight and it was evident."

O'Connell on Her 20-Kill Night
"Honestly, I think our defense was really good tonight and Julianna set really smart this game and saw where the block was, and that really freed me up," redshirt-junior Gabby O'Connell said. "I think our middles did a great job of transitioning and that leaves me on "one-on-ones" and I'm really thankful for that."

Up Next
North Florida concludes its home-opening weekend against former-conference foe, Mercer, at 2 p.m. tomorrow.