First Serve: ASUN Crossover - At the Nest - University of North Florida Athletics

Friday, October 22

Jacksonville, Fla.

7 p.m.

University of North Florida

Bellarmine

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ASUN Crossover Preview Graphic - VB with pictures of Alessia Venturelli and Rocio Moro

First Serve: ASUN Crossover - At the Nest

10/21/2021 10:18:00 AM | Volleyball

Game Notes Live Stats (All Games)ESPN+ (Bellarmine Match)ESPN+ (EKU Match)ESPN+ (Lipscomb Match)Tickets (Bellarmine Match)Tickets (EKU Match)Tickets (Lipscomb Match)

Ospreys Host Bellarmine, EKU and Lipscomb

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - UNF Volleyball's second encounter with the ASUN West Division is set for this weekend with the second ASUN Crossover of 2021.

UNF will play three matches this weekend, one on Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively. The Ospreys go up against Bellarmine, Eastern Kentucky and Lipscomb. The UNF Arena will also host Kennesaw State and Stetson as six neutral site matches are set for the weekend.

ASUN Crossover @ UNF Arena \| Friday, Oct. 22 - Sunday, Oct. 24
Match 21: Bellarmine	Friday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m.
Series History	First-ever meeting
Match 22: EKU	Saturday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m.
Series History	UNF leads, 1-0
Match 23: Lipscomb	Sunday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m.
Series History	Lipscomb leads, 25-3
Social Media / Coverage	@OspreyVB \| #SWOOPLife \| @UNFOspreys

Series History
UNF and Bellarmine meet for the first time in series history and the first time as ASUN foes ... Eastern Kentucky is in its first year in the ASUN, going up against UNF for the second time in series history ... the Ospreys and Lipscomb are long-time rivals, meeting for the first time since the Spring 2021 ASUN Championship Semifinals and the 28th time in series history.

Bellarmine: Its Bellarmine's second season in the ASUN and first trip to the UNF Arena ... the Ospreys and Knights didn't meet last season due to the altered schedules as a result of COVID-19.
Eastern Kentucky: UNF took the lone meeting against EKU, 3-2, Sept. 4, 2015.
Lipscomb: The Ospreys are looking for their first win against Lipscomb at home since 2012.

Scouting Report
Bellarmine: The Knights are 1-4 on the road this season and 2-6 in league play ... Bellarmine's six wins have come against Georgia Washington, Appalachian State, FDU, Georgetown, UNA and EKU ... Bellarmine is second in the ASUN in total attack errors and total attacks
Eastern Kentucky: EKU is 2-3 over its last five ... the Colonels are 1-6 on the road this season ... freshman Anna Purichia was named ASUN Freshman of the Week Oct. 4.
Lipscomb: The Bisons are the reigning ASUN Champions ... Delaney Dilfer and Meg Mersman were named Preseason All-ASUN ... Lipscomb was selected to finish second in the ASUN Preseason Polls ... head coach Brandon Rosenthal is in his 19th season with Lipscomb, logging over 300 wins.

FIRST SERVE
>> North Florida is embarking on the second half of the ASUN schedule at 6-2 in league play and 17-3 overall.
>>UNF is second in the ASUN East Division behind conference leading FGCU, who is 8-0.
>> The Ospreys' 17 wins is tied for the third most in NCAA Division I. UNF's winning percentage is good for 11th in the nation.
>> Last week's NCAA RPI had the Ospreys 66th in the country, UNF's third consecutive week in the top 70.
>> UNF set a program record with a No. 49 RPI earlier this year.

AN OSPREY WIN WOULD...
- Give UNF a win in its first match agains Bellarmine in series history.

-Keep the Ospreys undefeated against the ASUN West Division.

-If the Ospreys sweep the weekend, it would be the first time UNF has cracked the 20-win threshold since 2015.

LOOKING AHEAD
North Florida gets back into ASUN East Division competition with road matches at FGCU and Stetson.

AN EVEN 100
Gabby O'Connell dropped in her 100th-career ace in Sunday's match at Kennesaw State. In doing so she became the third Osprey in program history to reach at least:

-1,000 kills
-1,000 digs
-100 blocks
-100 assists
-100 aces

EASY AS ONE, TWO, THREE
North Florida swept Liberty for the eighth win in straight sets this season.

ORDER A BAKER'S DOZEN
North Florida was all over the Flames on the block in Friday's 3-0 sweep, tying a season high with 13 blocks. UNF's 13 blocks is the second-most in UNF DI history for a three-set match, one shy of the mark set against Campbell in 2005. Maddie Boyd tied a career high with eight blocks, while setting a career high with seven block assists in the match. North Florida is 7-0 when reaching 10 blocks in a match.

PUT OUT THE FIRE
UNF earned its first win against Liberty in program history with the 3-0 sweep of the Flames.

Head Coach Kristen Wright has defeated every ASUN team that was in the league at the start of her UNF tenure, with the exception of Lipscomb.

"PROTEC & ATTAC"
Middle blockers Bre Walp and Maddie Boyd have been two of the most dominant middle blockers in the league, helping elevate UNF to second in the ASUN in blocks (167) and third in blocks/set (2.23).

Walp has 97 blocks, first in the ASUN and eighth nationally, while Boyd has 66 blocks.

They're no slouches offensively either, as Boyd is hitting .361 with 131 kills. Her hitting percentage is 64th in the country and third in the ASUN.

Walp paced the Ospreys with 13 kills at Kennesaw State, the second most in her career for a single game.

THEN THERE WERE TWO
UNF's all-time career digs/set record holder, Rocio Moro, surpassed former Osprey great, Cari Whitmire, for second in digs during UNF's DI days. Moro has 1,374 digs, ahead of Whitmire's 1,346. Moro is only behind Nicole Baran who touts 1,929 over 475 sets. For context, Moro has played 277 sets.

HOMEY
UNF is 8-1 at home this year and have earned four sweeps in the process.

The ospreys are hitting .261 as a team and averaging 2.09 blocks/set, while holding opponents to .147 hitting across the nine matches.

THE WALL
Middle blocker Bre Walp finally became eligible in the UNF career record books for the blocks/set season record after surpassing 150 sets played this season.

The middle blocker is third in UNF history for blocks/set in a season with 1.09. Her total is currently the best for a single season in UNF's DI era.

SEEN IT ALL
Gabby O'Connell has played in 123 matches and 456 sets. The outside hitter is three matches away from tying the UNF DI record for matches played and is seventh all-time and third in UNF's DI era for sets played.

If she plays in all three matches this weekend, O'Connell ties Paige Pridgeon and Nicole Baran for the most matches played in UNF DI history. She still has 18 more matches to go to set the UNF record for matches played. Valerie Martinez owns that record with 140 matches (2001-04).

O'Connell needs only 20 more sets played to surpass Baran's program-record mark of 475 sets played.

CAREER-HIGH WEEKEND
Freshman Annie Antar has consecutive games with career-high assist numbers. She posted matches of 38 and 41 assists. Her 41-assist mark against Kennesaw State also included three kills and eight digs. She had a season-high four blocks against Liberty.

CATCH US IN IRL
UNF's home match vs. JU Saturday, Oct. 9, had 786 fans see the Ospreys and Dolphins in person at the UNF Arena. That's the highest attendance number since UNF's home match vs. Jacksonville in 2017.

THIRD TIMES A CHARM
UNF is 17-0 when winning the 3rd set this year. The Ospreys have only dropped 17 sets.