North Florida volleyball(10-16 overall, 2-7 ASUN) got a much needed conference win against the first-place Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles(17-7 overall, 7-2 ASUN) at the UNF Arena on Oct. 27 in a five- set thriller.

The Ospreys went back and forth throughout the night with multiple runs,and rallies against the Eagles.

In the first set, Carina Hoff went down early with an injury, and forced the Ospreys to regroup. With the score deadlocked at 22, Devyn Wheeler’s kill and Taryn Griffey’s ace pushed the team to a 25-23 win.  

The Eagles took an early 9-2 lead in the second set and carried the match from there to take it, 25-18.

The Ospreys took the momentum back in the third set with an early 12-6 lead. Behind Wheeler and Griffey’s kills, the squad took the set 25-20.

FGCU blew out UNF in the fourth set with an early lead, which pushed the home team into negative hitting.The Eagles’ 25-17 victory forced the match into a final set.  

In the last set, the Ospreys finished the game with a commanding 15-5 win. The Eagles only had a .038 hitting percentage during the set.

Head Coach Steve Loeswick touched on the team’s response after losing Hoff.

“At lot of times when stuff like that happens, people rally and play a little bit harder for the people next you,” Loeswick said. “And I think that really showed tonight.”

Wheeler, a freshman, stepped up to fill the void and closed out the night with 22 kills and 5 blocks for a career-high performance.

“I just stayed aggressive all night and when I swing hard I know I did my job to help our team get the win,” Wheeler said. “We rallied around Carina going down early in the match and we are always just trying to play hard for our seniors and we can’t just give up.”

Next, UNF will face Stetson(3-18 overall, 2-7 ASUN) at the UNF Arena on Oct 28 at 5 pm.

Gallery • 16 Photos

Photo by Lili Weinstein

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