North Florida Volleyball Highlights from 2024

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida volleyball's 34th season in program history saw the Ospreys achieve new milestones as a team and individually, with UNF notching its 12th-straight appearance in the league tournament in head coach Kristen Wright's seventh season leading the Ospreys.

Consistency in the League
North Florida continued a program-record streak for winning seasons in league play, going 9-7 to notch a program-record fifth-straight winning season in Atlantic Sun competition. The Ospreys' streak of conference tournament appearances reached 12 as a result, with North Florida taking the six seed.

UNF was battle tested all season long, with the Ospreys playing 11 of their 32 matches against programs in the top 100 for RPI. UNF took on five Power Four foes, while hosting No. 21 Florida State Sept. 10, the highest-ranked opponent the Ospreys have ever hosted at the UNF Arena in the entire school's DI era. Additionally, UNF defeated Charleston in exhibition play to start the year, with the Cougars going on to win the Colonial Athletic Association conference tournament.

Wright's Milestone Win
Through UNF's 13 wins was the 100th win of head coach Kristen Wright's UNF career, which she achieved Nov. 3 at North Alabama in a 3-1 win. The winningest coach in the program's DI era, Wright became the first head coach to reach 100-career wins in UNF volleyball's DI tenure.

Individual and Team Highlights
Just days later the Ospreys set a team record with an astounding 17 aces against West Georgia in a three-set sweep of the Wolves. Senior Amy Burkhardt posted nine aces, setting a program single game record for an individual in the process.

That was just one match in a record-setting season for Burkhardt, who racked up a number of firsts for her career. Burkhardt set career highs in kills, digs, aces, assists and blocks, while earning Atlantic Sun Third Team All-League honors for her performance. On Sept. 3 she was named Atlantic Sun Player of the Week for the first time in her UNF tenure.

Burkhardt benefited from the career year for teammate, Annie Antar, who posted 1,145 assists at the setter position, the most among all setters in the league. Antar was named Atlantic Sun Setter of the Week Oct. 15, and broke into the top ten in UNF history for career assists.

To wrap up the year, Burkhardt alongside junior Kierstyn McFall and senior Anna Butler were named to the Collegiate Sports Communicators Academic All-District squad, giving UNF seven such honorees in the last two seasons.

Players Mentioned

Annie Antar

Amy Burkhardt

Anna Butler

Kierstyn McFall

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