JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida volleyball begins a critical second half of the ASUN season with a pair of matches this weekend. The Ospreys take on Jacksonville State Friday before finishing the weekend against ASUN-frontrunner Kennesaw State Saturday night. Both contests will be hosted at Jacksonville University's Swisher Gymnasium. 

Both contests will be streamed for free on SWOOPLife Live. 

MATCH NOTES
1. Series History
Jacksonville State: UNF and Jacksonville State are meeting for the third time in the series' history ... this will be the second meeting between the two teams as ASUN foes ... North Florida and JSU went down to the wire last year, with the Ospreys clipping the Gamecocks, 3-2 ... Solimar Cestero had 16 kills while Maddie Boyd provided eight kills and five blocks in that win a year ago ... the first-ever meeting between the two teams was Sept. 24 of 1993 ... North Florida is 2-0 against JSU ... this will be the second neutral site meeting between the two teams.

Kennesaw State: UNF is continuing a long-standing rivalry that has already featured 27 matches ... all 27 matches have come during UNF's DI era as the two teams have only faced off as ASUN foes ... KSU leads the all-time series, 18-8 ... North Florida and KSU are playing just their first neutral site match in series history ... the Owls won both of last year's meetings ... the two teams didn't play against one another during the altered Spring 2021 campaign ... North Florida went for a 3-1 win against KSU Oct. 27, 2019 ... the Owls went on to win the the ASUN Championship that season ... Cestero and Rocio Moro are the lone remaining Ospreys that earned time in that match ... Cestero posted 15 kills while Moro had 15 digs and 2 aces ... this is the 26th ASUN meeting between UNF and Kennesaw State.

SCOUTING REPORT
Jacksonville State: After a stellar inaugural year in the ASUN last season, Jacksonville State has picked up right where it left off, going 6-2 over the first half of ASUN play, while tallying an 18-3 overall mark ... the Gamecocks are undefeated in neutral site affairs and riding a two-match winning streak ... Jacksonville State earned Power Five wins against Indiana and Clemson this season, while coming up just short against Auburn Sept. 17 ... Jacksonville State's lone ASUN losses have come at the hands of Kennesaw State ... KSU dispatched JSU with a pair of sweeps.

Kennesaw State: The Owls are led by Keith Schunzel in his 10th year at KSU ... KSU holds a one-game lead over four teams for the top spot in the conference ... Dani Ballou was named player of the week this past Monday, while versatile setter McKinley Ferguson was tabbed setter of the week, her third such honor ... KSU is hitting .252 as a squad, while holding teams to .187 hitting ... libero Shelby Dennis has put up 260 digs at 4.33 digs/frame this season ... KSU's lone ASUN loss was a 3-0 defeat against Liberty.

AN OSPREY WIN WOULD...
Jacksonville State: Make UNF 3-0 against Jacksonville State ... ensure that UNF goes at least .500 in its fifth-straight two-match ASUN weekend ... make UNF 2-0 against Jacksonville State in matches played in a city named Jacksonville ... make UNF 3-2 in ASUN Friday night meetings.
Kennesaw State: Make UNF 1-0 against Kennesaw State in neutral site meetings ... give KSU its first loss during the month of October ... bring UNF its first win against Kennesaw State since 2019.

MORO'S MONUMENTAL MOMENT
Libero Rocio Moro achieved one of the memorable milestones in her UNF career after becoming the program career-digs record holder during Friday's win at Queens ... Moro now stands just 38 digs short of 2,000 after surpassing UNF great, Nicole Baran, for first on the all-time digs list ... the two-time ASUN Defensive Player of the Year and seven-time ASUN Defensive Player of the Week is second in the league in digs/set and digs this season.

STEADY SOLI
Solimar Cestero is knocking on the door of some longevity honors in the Navy and Gray.

Cestero has 1,189 kills, good for seventh in UNF history. Her 3,318 attacks are the fifth-most all-time. At 472 sets played, Cestero is tied-for-fourth all-time, but needs just four sets played to move past the likes of Paige Pridgeon, Tara Taylor and Nicole Baran on the all-time sets played list. Cestero would stand behind just former teammate, Gabby O'Connell, for the record.

Cestero is currently 10 matches short of setting the UNF record for matches played with nine regular season contests remaining. The outside hitter has found her groove lately, having reached double-digit kills in four of the last five matches, while also adding a 23-kill and 15-dig match against North Alabama Oct. 9.

GOING THE DISTANCE 
The ASUN has been filled with parody up and down the standings this season ... three of UNF's last five matches have been five-set contests ... North Florida has played at least one five-set match in all but one ASUN weekend this season ... UNF has gone 1-1 each of the four ASUN weekends this year ... North Florida is 3-2 in five-set contests, while going 2-2 in league matches that have gone five frames.