Kennesaw State University Athletics

Score: Kennesaw State 3, North Florida 0 (25-13, 25-20, 25-20)
Records: Kennesaw State (17-10, 11-2), North Florida (18-12, 8-5)
Key Players: Kelly Marcinek (11 kills, hitting .733), Anaiah Boyer (11 kills, six digs), Kristi Piedimonte (42 assists)
 
Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (XML) | Photos
 
THE STORYLINE:

• The Kennesaw State volleyball team clinched a first-round bye in the ASUN Tournament and moved one win closer to at least a share of the conference's regular season title with a decisive 3-0 victory over North Florida Friday night at the KSU Convocation Center.
• The Owls can clinch a share of the ASUN regular-season title with a win over Jacksonville Saturday night at home. KSU can secure the overall No. 1-seed with a win combined with a Lipscomb loss UNF.

 
SCHUNZEL QUOTE:
"What a great effort by our group tonight in front of another fantastic crowd. I couldn't be more proud of the focus, the execution, and the aggressive, positive demeanor of our team. The word is getting out in the community about how fun it is to come and watch this team compete and battle and that's a really neat thing. We have a chance to do something special tomorrow and our women are excited about it. Our team can't wait to put on the KSU jersey one last time in front of our fans and put it all out there."

HOW IT HAPPENED: 
First Set: UNF jumped out to an early 5-4 lead but it was all Owls after that. KSU never trailed after a Kelly Marcinek kill tied the set at 5-5 and the hosts finished on a 21-8 run to claim the first set 25-13. Marcinek's five kills led the first set.

Second Set: The second set was much tighter, with the Ospreys leading by as many as four (14-10). It was 17-15 UNF before KSU closed the set on a 10-3 spurt to claim a 25-20 victory. Kristi Piedimonte recorded her 3,000^th career assist during the set.
 
Third Set: Kennesaw State never trailed in the final set and closed on an 11-6 run to finish off the Ospreys in three sets.
 
#NESTNOTES

• Junior Kristi Piedimonte finished with a game-high 41 assists and, during the match, became just the second Owl to surpass 3,000 assists in a career. Piedimonte entered the night 35^th nationally and second in the conference in assists this season.
• Piedimonte's 41 assists are the most by any ASUN player in a three-set conference match this season, topping the 40 she had versus USC-Upstate on Oct. 14.
• The Owls swept the season series with UNF after beating the Ospreys 3-1 in Jacksonville on Oct. 1. The last time KSU swept UNF was 2013 and the Owls improved to 9-7 all-time versus the Ospreys.
• With 13 digs in the match, Katarina Morton set the school record for digs in a season. The junior now has 530 this year.
• Anaiah Boyer (11), Marcinek (11) and Liesl Englebrecht (10) each had double-digit kills.
• As a team, the Owls hit .350, and defensively, limited UNF to a .126 percentage. Four Owls hit above .350 -- Marcinek (.733), Englebrecht (.556), Maddie Jones (.400) and Sydni Shelton (.353).
• Marcinek's .733 hitting percentage came thanks to 11 kills on 15 attacks. It matched her season high for hitting percentage (vs. UL-Monroe on Sept. 17).

 
UP NEXT
Kennesaw State wraps up the regular season Saturday night when the Owls welcome Jacksonville on Senior Night. The match begins at 7 p.m. can be seen live on ASUN TV.

To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State volleyball news follow the team on Twitter @KSUOwlNation and @KSUOwlsVB or by liking Kennesaw State University on Facebook.
 
All tickets to all 2016 home volleyball contests are free throughout the year.
 
- #GoKSUOwls -