Volleyball Commences Season With Wins Against Wofford, FAU

Friday, August 27

Boca Raton, Fla.

10 a.m.

University of North Florida

1-0,0-0ASUN

Wofford

0-1,0-0SoCon

North Florida

Wofford

8/27/2021 10:21:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

Ospreys Open 2021 2-0

BOCA RATON, Fla. - UNF volleyball (2-0) started the fall 2021 campaign in the best way possible, taking both matches on day one of the season. The Ospreys grinded out a 3-2 win against Wofford (0-1) in the morning before prevailing against host FAU (1-1) in the nightcap.

The Ospreys put up a block party in the second game, tallying 13 blocks, eight coming from Bre Walp.

UNF 3, Wofford 2 (17-25, 25-14, 25-16, 20-25, 15-13)
Down 13-10 in the fifth set, North Florida showed grit and rattled off a 5-0 run to take the fifth set and the match from a scrappy Wofford team in the season opener.

Inside the Sets

Set 1: Down by three, UNF turned in a 3-0 run to tie it at 13-13 … Wofford hit .520 and closed the set on a 12-4 run to take the opening session of the season.
Set 2: North Florida rebounded with its most efficient set offensively, hitting .370 with just four errors while forcing Wofford to a .036 attack percentage.
Set 3: UNF hit .355 in a crucial third frame … Dariana Hollingsworth-Santana was a big reason why, providing six kills on .455 hitting … Rocio Moro and Annie Antar chipped in with six digs apiece.
Set 4: Wofford led the entire fourth frame, holding North Florida to .059 hitting as the Terriers evened the match.
Set 5: The fifth session mirrored the rest of the match as things went back-and-forth early … tied 6-6, Wofford put up a 4-1 run … after a timeout, North Florida cut the deficit to 11-10 before Wofford added two more points … a Solimar Cestero kill keyed the comeback … a Wofford attack error was followed by a block from Bre Walp and Cestero … Moro dropped in an ace and Walp and Hollingsworth-Santana finished the match with a resounding block.

Leaders By the Numbers
Wofford

Meghan Yaffa | 21 kills, seven digs, 3 aces
Sarah Barham | 3 blocks
Emily Hodson | 36 assists, 7 digs

UNF

Dariana Hollingsworth-Santana | 13 kills, .219 hitting
Annie Antar | 19 assists, 11 digs
Julianna Askew | 26 assists
Rocio Moro | 19 digs
Bre Walp | 8 blocks, 6 kills

UNF 3, FAU 1 (25-18, 20-25, 25-15, 25-16)
Inside the Sets

Set 1: FAU Collected more kills than the Ospreys, but four fewer errors, two blocks and two aces gave UNF the edge in the first session.
Set 2: The Owls started the set off with a 5-0 run and held that advantage the rest of the way.
Set 3: Paced by big play on the blocks and .364 hitting, North Florida set the tone for the rest of the match with a resounding win in the third set … FAU was held to .077 hitting.
Set 4: Efficiency was of the essence in the fourth, with North Florida posting 13 kills and only three errors … conversely, FAU struggled to find a rhythm and suffered nine errors … Amy Burkhardt provided a huge spark in the fourth stanza.

Leaders By the Numbers
FAU

Klara Zarnovicka | 18 kills, 5 digs
Stephanie Young | 19 assists, 9 digs
Camryn Vogler | 11 digs

UNF

Gabby O'Connell | 9 kills
Rocio Moro | 13 digs
Julianna Askew | 18 assists, 3 aces
Amy Burkhardt | 8 kills, .462 hitting

Notes

Butler and Antar made the first starts of their career in the match against Wofford.
Four Ospreys made their UNF debuts, with three making their collegiate debut (Antar, Burkhardt, Butler).
UNF took its first-ever meeting against Wofford.
North Florida is 2-2 in season openers under head coach Kristen Wright.
Antar posted her first career double-double in the first match.
UNF is 5-8 all-time against FAU.

Wright's Words
Following the Wofford Match
"We did the right things at the right time and our focus was applied correctly. We made some good defensive adjustments. This was the first game of the year, right. So there are a lot of things we are looking at."

Following the FAU Match
"I'm really proud of our team, that's a great team [FAU]. They're really well coached. I thought we responded well and got better. We had two matches today and I thought we had a really balanced attack."