JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville University volleyball team was back in action Saturday night as they began their ASUN Conference slate by welcoming crosstown rival North Florida to Swisher Gymnasium for the first of four River City Rumble matches this season. The two sides Dolphins battled all night long but in the end, the Dolphins (2-3, 0-1) were unable to overcome the Ospreys (3-6, 2-1), falling by a score of 3-0 (24-26, 19-25, 17-25).
 
As has happened often in the season so far, the first set of the evening was a back-and-forth affair. After UNF scored the night's first point, Sydney Bolding evened the score at 1-1. The Ospreys retook the lead on the next point but JU answered by scoring four of the next five on kills from Avery Perosa, Barbora Romancova and Jenna McNamara along with a service ace from Madison Rayam to go up 5-3. UNF tied the set at five before the Dolphins strung together another run to lead 10-6. It was then UNF answered with a run that allowed them to briefly retake the lead at 13-12. The two teams exchanged points as seven lead changes ensued until the Ospreys scored four-straight to go in front 23-21. The Dolphins with three-straight of their own via an Osprey error and kills by Romancova and Rayam to go back ahead 24-23, but UNF used a pair of JU errors and a kill to take set one 26-24.
 
UNF was able to carry their momentum from the end of set one into the beginning of set two, scoring seven of he first 10 points to take a lead they would carry through to the end of the stanza. Jacksonville managed to string together some scoring runs, one started by a kill from Isa Dostal to get within five at 12-7 and another started with a kill by Rayam that featured a Sydney Bolding service ace and kill by Hannah Edelman to make it 17-13. UNF withstood a late JU charge to take set two 25-19.
 
Set three again saw North Florida score first but three-straight kills from Rayam and another by Dostal allowed Jacksonville to keep pace with the score at 4-4 early. An attack error allowed UNF to go back in front but three of the next four points went the way of JU to make it 7-6. The Ospreys then scored four of the next six to retake the lead at 10-9 before they started to pull away through the middle stages of the set to lead 23-12 late. The Dolphins put together a 4-0 run behind Camryn Honn and McNamara to make it 23-16 but the comeback attempt ran out of time at the Ospreys took set three 25-17.
 
McNamara led the Dolphins with eight kills and hit .467 while Rayam and Dostal each finished the evening with six while hitting .385 and .333 respectively. Honn dished out 26 assists and Perosa collected 13 digs while three different Dolphins recorded a service ace in the match.
 
The two teams will meet once more tomorrow night in another 7 PM contest from Swisher Gymnasium.