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KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State volleyball team took a 3-0 (17-25, 21-25, 17-25) loss to North Florida at home on Friday night, evening the season series to 1-1 between the two schools with just one home game remaining for the Owls.
The loss brings the black and gold to 5-8 in the Atlantic Sun Conference while bolstering the Ospreys to 6-7, breaking a three-way tie between Kennesaw State, North Florida and Mercer in the league standings in the process. The Owls now fall to 16-12 overall while UNF moves to 15-12.
“We knew it would be a tough match and that’s exactly what it was,” said Kennesaw State head coach
Karen Weatherington. “Our team came out aggressive but North Florida had an answer for everything we did. They’re a veteran program with five seniors and my hat goes off to them.”
KSU never lead in the opening set but did keep things early close on with a Chade Martin (Augusta, Ga./Grovetown HS) kill from setter
Sara Metroka (New Castle, Ind./New Castle Chrysler HS) to make it 8-6 Ospreys. A point by
Turea Jones (Santa Rosa, Calif./Santa Rosa JC) brought the Owls within five points late in the set, but back-to-back kills by North Florida gave the visitors the 25-17 win.
After hitting .308 through the opening set, the Owls came out swinging in the second as well, rallying behind three Jones kills to go up 6-5. With the set tied at 18 it was UNF who pulled ahead, scoring two straight points to take the 20-18 lead.
Keyaira Stevenson (Columbia, S.C., Ridgeview HS) kept the Owls in contention, picking up a kill to bring KSU back within one at 22-21, but the Ospreys went on a 3-0 run to end the set at 25-21.
In the third and final set it was UNF who took the early lead, going up 10-4 early on KSU. After a timeout by the Owls down 21-11, the black and gold went on a 4-0 run to close the gap with clutch points from
Baylee Strachan (Sioux City, Iowa/Winthrop) and
Emily Bean (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike HS). The late rally fell short, however, as UNF took the set and the match with a 25-17 win.
“We never stopped fighting and I think that says a lot about our team,” said Weatherington. “Every set I know our girls are going out there and giving it their all and we’ll keep that fight going tomorrow.”
Jones led the Owls with her 11 kills, 10 of which came in the first two sets alone, with five digs and a solo block. Fellow senior Strachan earned a .350 attack percentage with eight kills and three blocks.
Libero
Camille Pedraza (Marietta, Ga./Kell HS) led both teams with her 20 digs while freshman
Jenna Wilt (Woodstock, Ga./Etowah HS) put up three blocks of her own during the effort.
The Owls will wrap up the home portion of their regular season schedule tomorrow as they host Jacksonville on Senior Day. First serve is set for 3 p.m. with the team’s three seniors being honored prior to the match.
To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State volleyball news follow the team on Twitter
@KSUOwlNation and
@KSUOwlsVB or by liking Kennesaw State University Volleyball on Facebook.
Kennesaw State University is celebrating 30 years of intercollegiate athletics during the 2012-13 academic year.
Around the A-Sun
Lipscomb 3, ETSU 0
Northern Kentucky 3, USC Upstate 0
Jacksonville 3, Mercer 1
