One-Match Trip to the Music City

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida volleyball takes the trip from the First Coast to the Music City for a single match against the Lipscomb Bisons tomorrow night at 7 p.m. EST. The Ospreys look to continue to flip the script on the all-time series, going for their third win in four tries vs. Lipscomb.

MATCH DETAILS
Who | UNF and Lipscomb
What | Final match of September
When | Saturday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. EST
Where | Nashville, Tenn. | Allen Arena

Live Coverage
Live Stats - Statbroadcast
ESPN+

Series History

Lipscomb: UNF dropped its only match against Lipscomb last year … Lipscomb leads the all-time series, 26-5 … the two teams have played each other 26 times as league foes … UNF has won two of its past three matchups against Lipscomb … last year Lipscomb defeated UNF in three sets in Nashville … North Florida is looking for its first win against the Bisons in Nashville since 2006.

SCOUTING REPORT

Lipscomb: Lipscomb is 8-5 and 3-0 in league play after wins against Central Arkansas, North Alabama and Austin Peay … Lipscomb has won its past four matches, defeating Abilene Christian and Belmont before opening ASUN conference play … head coach Brandon Rosenthal is in his twenty-first season at the helm of the Lipscomb indoor program … Jada DiVita and Meg Mersman lead the Bison with over 100 kills on the year … Sophia Hudepohl directs the offense, posting 9.11 assists/set … Delaney Smith leads the Bison with 3.54 digs/set … the Bisons were tabbed to finish second per the ASUN Preseason Coaches Poll, earning two first place votes … the Bisons are one of four teams to have a preseason honoree … Meg Mersman and Caroline Stogner were named to the ASUN Preseason All-Conference Team.

MATCH NOTES

Milestone Watch

Rocio Moro continues her ascent up the ASUN record book, needing 47 digs to set the ASUN-career digs record
Kailey McKnight and Maddie Boyd were the most recent additions to the 500-career kills club, having reached that milestone earlier this year
Boyd also became just the fourth Osprey in program history to surpass 300-career blocks
Annie Antar became the 10th Osprey in UNF's DI era to surpass 1,000-career assists

River City Victory

UNF defeated JU, 3-1, winning the first of its two regular season conference matchups with the Dolphins
The Ospreys notched their first conference victory of the 2023 campaign, and snapped a five game skid
Jesica Buis provided a career-best three aces for the Ospreys
Kailey McKnight posted a double-double for the third consecutive match, and her sixth of the season
Rocio Moro recorded 20 digs, leading the Ospreys in that category for the fifteenth time this season

Marathon Weekend

UNF engaged in two of the longest matches in recent history, having played in a three-hour and six minute match at Stetson Friday, Sept. 22 and nearly a two-hour and 50-minute contest at FGCU
North Florida put up 200 total attacks against Stetson and 171 at FGCU
Some massive and career performances came forth last weekend. Rocio Moro posted a 32-dig night against Stetson, the sixth time she reached that marker
Janelly Ceopa made consecutive starts and eyed a double-double in each match
Kierstyn McFall tied a career high with 18 kills at Stetson
North Florida had two setters with double-doubles in the match against Stetson, with Kelly Negron and Antar doing so

Anna Begins

Anna Butler got the start in Saturday's match against FGCU, her first of the season
The junior posted 15 kills, her first double-digit kill outing since going for a career-best 17 in a 3-2 win against Virginia Tech back in 2021
She also hit .382 and posted four blocks

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.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Annie Antar

Maddie Boyd

Anna Butler

Janelly Ceopa

Kierstyn McFall

Kailey McKnight

Rylee Moorhead

Rocio Moro

Kelly Negron

Emma Pohlmann

Kyla Solis

Mahalia White

Morgan Wilson

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