The No. 15 ranked UNF beach volleyball team continued its fast start to the season with midweek sweeps over Wingate and Jacksonville University. 

The Ospreys defeated Wingate in straight sets to open the afternoon. The junior duo of Presley Murray and Mackenzie Murphy, fourth-year head coach Doug Wright called the team’s “top duo, ” tallied a two-set win. 

“[Murray and Murphy] are off to a great start,” the head coach said. “They’ve lost only two.”

Wright also touted pair Mariana Feliciano Sanchez and Madison Espy, who won easily too. In the first duel against Wingate, every Ospreys duo won a set by double-digit points. Sophomore Cameron Humphries and senior Hayden Woolridge followed with a dominant set win.

The other senior and sophomore pair, Emily Guenter and Anne Marie Hardouin won both sets by 15 or more points, the most lopsided match of the meet. 

Following this, UNF garnered its third sweep over rival JU. Humphries and Wooldridge accomplished their ninth straight match win. A new duo consisting of sophomores Eden Anderson and Sophia Notaro collected another UNF victory.

Murray and Murphy took care of court one, while Feliciano Sanchez and Espy won on court two. UNF only had one match that faced adversity, as the pair of Andrea Da Silva and Taylor Pierce lost their opening set by just two points. 

Coach Reaction

However, the pair won the next two sets to clinch UNF’s second sweep. Following the game, Wright talked highly of his team’s depth. 

“We returned a lot of players from last year and we’re just hungry to get better,” Wright said. “We have a mantra of just trying to get better each day.”

Even though the program is off to its best start in school history, Wright said the team hasn’t been playing their best volleyball. 

“We’re fortunate in the sense where I don’t think we’re playing great volleyball, but we’re still winning,” Wright said. “So we still have a ways to go in our play so it’s been really exciting.”

Overall, the team has swept nine of its 14 meets, which Wright said is “fun.”

“Across the board we’ve gotten production,” Wright said.

 Wright said the squad needs to be a “little cleaner” for UNF to play at its best. For Wright, this includes better serving and passing.

“I think our ceiling is really high…” Wright said. “By the time we get to the conference championship, I hope for us to be playing some really good volleyball.”

Before the conference championship begins, UNF, now 13-1, will host the ASUN Midseason Tournament on Mar. 28-29. The Ospreys will face off against Austin Peay, North Alabama, Eastern Kentucky, and Central Arkansas.

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