JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida begins the 2022 season with a weekend in Gainesville, Florida as the Ospreys take on a nationally-ranked Gators team, Virginia and ETSU.

MATCH NOTES

Series History
UF: North Florida and Florida have never met
UVA: The Ospreys will meet the Cavaliers for the second time and the first time in a neutral location ... UNF and UVA played Sept. 3, 2010 in Charlottesville, Va., with Virginia winning in three sets.
ETSU: UNF and ETSU are familiar foes, having played one another as ASUN competitors between 2005 and 2013 ... ETSU leads the series, 11-4.

Scouting Report
UF:  Florida is ranked No. 15 in the AVCA Preseason poll ... Florida has been ranked in the top 15 in that poll for 31-straight years ... UF defeated FAMU and Miami in the NCAA Tourney a year ago.
UVA: Virginia is coming off an 8-20 year last year ... Brooklyn Borum posted 234 kills last year, the most of any returner.
ETSU: ETSU was picked third in the preseason SoCon poll ... the Bucs return 14 players from last year ... seven of those appeared in over 20 matches.

First Serve
UNF is coming off a 25-8 season in 2021, a year that marked the most wins for the Ospreys in program history ... North Florida was slated to finish sixth in the 14-team league ... Rocio Moro was tabbed ASUN Preseason Defensive Player of the Year for the second time in as many seasons ... the 2022 roster features eight returners and nine newcomers ... Solimar Cestero is the most experienced returner, having already appeared in 115 matches and 414 sets ... Rocio Moro begins the year needing only 302 digs for the UNF record.

AN OSPREY WIN WOULD...
-Against UF: Would give the Ospreys their second-ever victory against an SEC team.
-Against Virginia: Would bring UNF its second Power Five win against a team from Virginia after taking down Virginia Tech a year ago.
-Against ETSU: Would be the fifth victory against the Bucs in series history.

Notables
>> Head coach Kristen Wright is in her fifth season as the head coach of the indoor volleyball program. She also was the leader of the beach volleyball program for another four seasons, winning the ASUN Beach Volleyball Championship in 2021.
>> UNF returns two student-athletes that have earned all-conference recognition in Rocio Moro (2x ASUN Defensive Player of the Year) and Solimar Cestero (2019 ASUN Second Team All-Conference).
>> North Florida's roster features nine newcomers and three of which have previous Division I experience or junior college experience. Mahalia White transferred in from UC Davis and has quite the past in California. White was the 2017 Big West Freshman of the Year before prevailing against stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma. After losing a year to COVID and injury, White found her way to North Florida.
>> The Ospreys welcome assistant coach Matt Noland after he served as a volunteer assistant last season.