North Florida Gets Past Upstate, 3-0
9/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 19, 2009
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Freshman Emily Sanders (Sullivan, Ill./Sullivan) nearly posted a double-double with 27 assists and nine digs, but the USC Upstate volleyball team couldn't get past a 35-kill performance from the duo of Danielle Lerch and Kaley Read of North Florida, as UNF went on for a 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-13) win in Atlantic Sun Conference action on Saturday at the UNF Arena.
Both sophomore Morgan Thomas (Plantation, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) and junior Erin Jacobsen (Virginia, Minn./Iowa Lakes C.C.) posted nine kills and junior Megan Healey (St. Louis, Mo./Ursuline Academy) added a team-high 11 digs for Upstate (3-10 overall, 0-6 A-Sun). Jacobsen and junior Katie Downey (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) each added two blocks.
Lerch notched 18 kills and two blocks, hitting .500, to complement the Ospreys (5-6 overall, 1-3 A-Sun) leading hitter, Kaley Read, who notched 17 kills and nine digs while hitting .516. Jessica Catelano posted 43 assists and Paige Pridgeon added 10 digs and seven aces.
The second set was a back-and-forth affair, with North Florida holding leads of 4-0 and 11-6, but Upstate using an 11-5 run to take a 17-16 lead after a UNF ball handling error. Upstate scored four straight points during the run, thanks to kills from freshman Paige Weiland (Atlanta, Ga./Marist School) and sophomore Morgan Thomas (Plantation, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas).
However, UNF went on a 3-0 run thanks to three straight kills from Kaley Read and Upstate could only get within a point once more as UNF went on for the 25-20 win.
Upstate and North Florida battled closely throughout the first set, with Upstate within a point at 10-9, but three straight Osprey points, including two on kills by Danielle Lerch gave UNF a 12-8 lead. Upstate closed within a point three more times, the last at 18-17, but four straight kills by the Ospreys made it 22-17, with two more coming from Lerch. Upstate was able to fight within two points at 23-21, but two kills by Paige Pridgeon gave UNF a 25-22 win.
In the third set, UNF hit .680 (18-1-25) en route to closing the match with a 25-13 win. The Ospreys closed out the match on a 10-1 run.
Upstate will wrap up its three-match road swing with a 7 p.m. Tuesday match at rival Presbyterian.
