When it rains, it pours. 

This idiom almost perfectly describes the University of North Florida volleyball team, which just lost its fifth game in six tries after being swept by Eastern Kentucky University on Friday night at UNF Arena. 

Playing without head coach Kristen Wright, the Ospreys were looking to build off their previous game, where UNF swept Austin Peay last Saturday. However, North Florida came out flat, losing the first set by double-digits. 

Looking to avoid a 0-2 hole, UNF fought back, forcing the Colonels to extra points, but fell just short of tying the set count. Now down 0-2, if the Ospreys wanted to come back, they needed to pull off the rare reverse sweep. 

Despite a late set run, UNF dropped the final set, succumbing to its seventh sweep loss of the season. 

Set One

To start the match, both teams traded points, leading to a 4-4 tie. 

Attempting to distance itself from the gridlock, UNF scored four consecutive points, doubling the Colonels early on. Two of those four points were from Emma Pohlmann’s service aces. 

Sandwiched in between two 6-0 EKU scoring runs, graduate Kailey McKnight recorded her first kill of the night, cutting EKU’s two-point lead in half. 

Overall, since North Florida took the 8-4 lead, EKU went on a 15-2 run. Nearly being doubled up, trailing 20-11, the Ospreys never went on another run and ended up losing set one 25-14. 

Blowing an 8-4 lead wasn’t the most frustrating part about that set for UNF. It was helping EKU go on a gargantuan run because of Osprey attack errors and what assistant coach Brandon Row called “high error” play.

“We were a little too high error tonight,” Row said. “We killed the ball well. We actually beat them in that category, but just our unforced errors kind of took over in clutch moments.”

According to the stats, contrary to what Row claimed, EKU did have more kills than UNF. However, UNF had more scoring chances, with eight more attacks. 

Set Two

It was a back-and-forth affair for most of the set, producing multiple ties and lead changes. This led to a 14-14 tie at the midway mark, with neither team having called a timeout, mainly because neither team distanced itself. 

Following this point, EKU scored three straight points thanks to a pair of UNF attack errors. Trailing 17-14, junior outside hitter Kaili Doctor tallied five kills, helping the Ospreys stave off four set points. 

In fact, after racking off three consecutive scores, UNF created its own set point, leading 25-24, but EKU equalized the score with its own kill. While the Ospreys made this set competitive, UNF couldn’t come through and EKU scored the two unanswered points to take set two. 

It was fitting that EKU clinched the set on a UNF attack error. Like Row said, UNF had more attacks than EKU, but its hitting percentage was noticeably lower. 

Final Set

During set three, EKU scored early and often, jumping out to a 6-2 advantage. At this point, UNF’s only two points were thanks to Colonel service errors. Nonetheless, the UNF attack didn’t go down quietly. 

Down 7-2, UNF rallied with six-straight points, taking the lead on McKnight’s third kill of that run. After McKnight inched UNF closer with another kill, EKU answered back, pouring in eight consecutive points to take the 18-10 lead. 

With hope dwindling for the Ospreys, UNF needed a run similar to EKU’s to get back in the game. Temporarily stopping the bleeding, freshman opposite hitter Kendall Newbold led UNF on a 6-0 run, recording three kills during the scoring spurt. 

With all momentum in North Florida’s favor, the Ospreys gave it up quickly, committing two more attack errors. Slicing the deficit back to three, Newbold notched another kill, keeping UNF alive. 

But EKU didn’t want this game to go on any longer, ending the set and match on an ace. On the positive side, for UNF, freshman setter Sofia Dawson and Newbold continued to be a bright spot. Dawson passed 500 assists midway through her freshman season and Newbold has now led UNF in kills for over half the team’s matches. 

“[Dawson] is really talented. She led well,” Row said. “Tonight, she had pretty good decision-making and located well, especially long enough.”

Row credited the defense for keeping the ball alive, as the Ospreys had more digs than the Colonels. 

“I thought our defenders did a really elite job tonight,” Row said. “They kept the ball alive for us. We out dug the and gave us a lot of opportunities.”

UNF (8-12, 2-5) has another opportunity to climb in the ASUN standings on Saturday, hosting Bellarmine at 6 p.m. inside UNF Arena.

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