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Photo by Lili Weinstein and Matthew Frisbee

In a three-set win, North Florida (7-9 overall) defeated Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (3-9 overall) to end a three-game losing streak on Sept. 27 in the UNF Arena.

Head coach Steve Loeswick approved of the Ospreys’ bounce back.

“I was pretty pleased with how we came out. As a team we are trying to get better every time we hit the court,” said Loeswick.“I saw good energy in the first set and thought we played  pretty well. It was good to win that first set and try to give us some confidence moving forward.”

In the first set, the Ospreys gained a 6-2 lead behind redshirt senior Carina Hoff’s ace and two kills.

The Rattlers then went on a 5-0 run and grabbed the lead for the first time for a 7-6 score.  

After back-and-forth volleys, neither UNF or FAMU let the scoring become too far apart for the remainder of the set.

North Florida took the edge and won the set 25-23.

During the second set, UNF went on a 5-0 run to start the set. The Rattlers struggled to make a comeback for the five unanswered points on the road and continued to fall farther behind.  

Near the end of the second set, the Ospreys led 21-9 as the Rattlers tried to go on a scoring run of their own. FAMU scored four consecutive points to cut North Florida’s lead to 21-13.

Despite the late rally, UNF maintained the lead and closed out the set with a 25-14 win.

The Ospreys went into halftime up two sets over their in-state foe.

Out the break, UNF wasted no time scoring the first point in the third set before extending the lead 6-2.  On multiple occasions, North Florida held a seven points lead.

With the game at 23-14, FAMU went on a 5-1 run to close in the gap. Unfortunately for the Rattlers, at the end of their run the score read 24-19, and the Ospreys only needed the match point for the victory.

North Florida took the final set 25-19 for the sweep.  

Redshirt senior Carina Hoff saw the improvement of the team’s play on the floor.

“Everyone played with a lot of grit tonight,” said Hoff.

After a big win, the Ospreys head on the road to play NJIT on Sept. 29 and then USC Upstate on Oct. 1.

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