JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - After sweeping consecutive matches last weekend at home, North Florida volleyball aims to stay perfect in October when it hosts Eastern Kentucky Friday and Bellarmine Saturday afternoon. Both foes enter the weekend with winning records in conference play.

MATCH DETAILS
Who | UNF volleyball vs. EKU, Bellarmine
What | Final home matches of October
When | Friday, Oct. 13 and Saturday, Oct. 14
Where | UNF Arena

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Last Time Out
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida (10-10, 3-3 ASUN) won in straight sets for the second-straight night, hitting .398 as a team while holding Queens to .066 on the attack in an hour and 18-minute sweep of Queens (3-14, 0-5 ASUN) Saturday, Oct. 7.

Amy Burkhardt hit a ridiculous .800 while Kierstyn McFall wasn't far behind with a .750 clip as North Florida committed no more than four errors in a single set. UNF haw now won three-straight matches and is looking to break .500 in both overall and league play next Friday.

Series History
EKU: UNF and EKU are meeting for the fourth time ... UNF and EKU first met back in 2015, a neutral site affair that UNF won in Knoxville, Tenn., 3-2 ... the Ospreys and Colonels have played twice as league foes ... the only meeting between UNF and EKU at North Florida came in 2021, a 3-1 win for the Ospreys ... Rocio Moro had 26 digs in that win, while Annie Antar went for 21 assists ... current Ospreys Kailey McKnight, Amy Burkhardt, Anna Butler and Maddie Boyd all played in that match ... EKU won last year's matchup in Kentucky, a match held in late October.

Bellarmine: UNF and Bellarmine are playing for the third time and the second time in Jacksonville ... North Florida has won both meetings, having defeated the Knights, 3-1, Oct. 22, 2019 at the UNF Arena ... North Florida also swept Bellarmine last year in Louisville, Ky. ... the Ospreys were paced by a 12-kill performance by Mahalia White in that win.

Scouting Report
EKU: EKU is off to a historic start, posting a 15-3 record and 5-1 mark in league competition ... EKU's 13-match winning streak broken against Lipscomb in a 3-2 loss brought the Colonels to a tie for the longest winning streak in program history ... EKU currently ranks third in the league standings, one game behind FGCU and Lipscomb ... EKU is 3-2 in true road matches this year, while going 8-0 at home thus far ... EKU has made itself known in the weekly honors department, having earned six weekly honors so far this season ... EKU has played balanced volleyball this year, pacing the league in kills/set, assists/set and hitting percentage ... the Colonels are also second in the league in digs/set ... four EKU players have at least 145 kills.

Bellarmine: Bellarmine is 6-12 and 4-2 in league play ... the Knights had their four-match winning streak snapped by ASUN frontrunner, Lipscomb ... freshman outside hitter Natalie Bland was named ASUN Freshman of the Week Oct. 2 ... Bellarmine has been markedly better in Louisville, going 5-1 at home and just 1-11 away from Louisville ...  the Knights defeated APSU, Queens, UNA and UCA in league play.

MATCH NOTES

Offense as Usual

• UNF's high powered offenses under head coach Kristen Wright have continued once again in 2023. 
• North Florida ranks first in the league in assists, total attacks and total kills. Those marks are also good for 12th, 13th and 46th in the country respectively.
• Watching History Osprey Fands
• Rocio Moro has blessed Osprey fans with a historical career through her 135 matches played.
• Friday against Kennesaw State she set the ASUN-career digs record. She also holds the UNF career digs and digs/set record.
• This past week she earned her 11th-career ASUN Defensive Player of the Week honor, which also stands as a league record
• With one more set played, Moro sets the UNF career sets played record, passing former teammate Solimar Cestero.
• She needs seven more matches played to surpass Cestero for first all-time in matches played.

PRESEASON NOTES

Preseason Picks

• UNF made some noise in the preseason conference rankings and all-league team
• Mahalia White and Rocio Moro were both league superlative award honorees, with Moro being named ASUN Preseason Defensive Player of the Year for the third-straight time, while Mahalia White was named ASUN Preseason Player of the Year.
• Moro is the three-time reigning ASUN Defensive Player of the Year, the only student-athlete to have earned that honor three times in the history of the league
• White was named to the ASUN Second Team a year ago after pacing the league in points/set and kills/set

Hungry and Experienced

• North Florida brings back significant numbers from last year's team that finished 9-7 in league play
• Headlining that group is Moro and White, along with starters in 2022 ASUN All-Freshman pick Kierstyn McFall, Maddie Boyd, Kailey McKnight
• North Florida returns 85.5 percent of its sets played for 2022

Highest of Honors

• Graduate student Mahalia White received one of the highest honors in all of collegiate sports this past summer
• White joined the nation's best female student-athletes in Los Angeles for the Collegiate Women's Sports Award (CWSA) Honda Cup ceremonies
• She was selected by the CWSA as the Honda Inspiration Cup award winner, an honor given to a female student-athlete in any of the NCAA Divisions that has overcome an extraordinary trial during their respective careers before overcoming and returning to success
• White defeated Hodgkin's Lymphoma and a torn ACL during her collegiate playing career before returning to the court and putting up all-league honors last year

Noting the Newcomers

• UNF's roster features 19 total and six newcomers
• Just two of UNF's newcomers are true freshmen, as Emma Pohlmann suits up in the Navy and Gray after arriving by way of Birmingham, Ala. Francis-Garay competed for her native country of Puerto Rico this summer before joining the Ospreys in mid-August
• Morgan Wilson (Towson), Rylee Moorhead (Presbyterian), Negron (UC Irvine) and Kyla Solis (Clemson), all bring extensive experience in the DI ranks.