North Florida’s volleyball (7-11, 0-3 ASUN) had back-to-back losses on the road to the NJIT Highlanders and USC Upstate Spartans.

This is the squad’s third loss in conference play, placing them seventh out of eighth in the standings.

On Sept.29, UNF fell 3-1 to the Highlanders after close set throughout the night in New Jersey.

Head coach Steve Loeswick described the road atmosphere and its effect on the team.

“We ran into a very confident team tonight,” Loeswick said. “The gym was loud and NJIT really fed off of it. We tried to rally, but as a team we did not handle the noise and pressure very well.”

In the first set, the game was tied at six-all before NJIT went on a 6-1 run and took the lead.

The Ospreys got within 12-10, but the Highlanders kept their lead as the home team took the opening frame, 25-15.

NJIT hit a match best .407 in the set and held UNF to just a .185 hitting percentage.

The Highlanders had 14 kills in the first set compared to the Osprey’s 9 kills.

During the second set,the Highlanders went on a 7-2 run to breake a 9-all tie and took the five point lead, 16-1.  

UNF answered with a 5-2 stretch to shorten the difference to just two points at 18-16, however they couldn’t close the gap. NJIT ended the set on a 7-3 run and won 25-19.

While the Ospreys lost the set, they did have more kills in the set with 14.

The Highlanders started out fast in the third set before the Ospreys answered with a 7-1 run of their own for a lead.

Both teams created runs late in the set, but the Ospreys won it 25-22 to force a fourth set.

In the fourth, the teams tied the score at 10 before it was broken behind a Highlander’s 7-2 run that couldn’t be overcame by the Ospreys.

On Oct.1, North Florida continued on the road to face the Spartans where they were swept 3-0.  

“Once again we had opportunities to finish the first two sets and we need to find a way to not get tight at the end of a set,” Loeswick said.“We will get back to work this week and get ready for Lipscomb and Kennesaw at home next weekend.”

In the opening set, the teams alternated points before the Spartans took the lead out to 17-12.

The Ospreys tried to comeback with a 5-1 run highlighted by a pair of aces from Raicevic to shrink the difference to one point, 18-17.

The Spartans responded with a run of their own and brought the score to 22-18.

The conference foes battled back and forth with multiple runs before USC Upstate took the set 30-28.

In the second set, the Ospreys continued with multiple runs, but the home team once again overtook them for the 26-24 win.

In the third and final set, the Spartans were all over the Ospreys with a 15-4 run to open the set and didn’t slow down as the team won the third set 25-17.

Carina Hoff and Katarina Raicevic both performed well in the matchup. Hoff finished with 10 kills and 9 digs while Raicevic had 5 kills, 7 digs and 4 aces.

Next the team returns to the UNF Arena to face Lipscomb on Oct. 6 at 7 pm.

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