JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville University volleyball team was back in action for the final edition of the River City Rumble Saturday night, as they once more made the trip across town to take on the University of North Florida. The Dolphins (2-11, 0-9) and Ospreys (8-8, 7-3) split the first two sets of the evening, but UNF pulled away in set five to win the match 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-14, ##).
Things got started with UNF taking the early lead in set one, scoring 12 of the night's first 18 points before Jacksonville stormed back with an 8-1 run to take the lead at 14-13, highlighted by three-straight kills from
Sydney Bolding to force a timeout by the Ospreys. Coming out of the timeout, Bolding picked up another kill before North Florida battled back to tie the set at 18-18 and 19-19. A pair of Osprey attack errors put JU back ahead but again UNF came back to even things at 22-22. The Dolphins then scored the final three points to win the set, coming on another kill from Bolding, a
Camryn Honn ace and a final attack miscue by the Ospreys to take the set 25-22.
Set two once more saw a back-and-forth battle much like what took place Friday night with both sides exchanging points early and often, unable to gain a definitive advantage as scoring runs were limited to no more than three points. UNF eventually came out ahead and managed to maintain a lead through the middle stages of the set and led 24-20 with a chance to take the set point. Jacksonville stormed back, scoring five-straight points behind the front line of Bolding
Jenna McNamara and
Barbora Romancova to go ahead 25-24. However, the comeback couldn't be completed as the Ospreys scored three-straight to win 27-25 and even the set at 1-1.
Sensing they may have let an opportunity slip away, Jacksonville set the tone in set three and led from nearly start to end, trailing in the set just once in the early going. After UNF briefly took a 2-1 lead, a kill from
Isa Dostal tied things up before an
Avery Perosa ace put JU back in front in the set for good. Jacksonville kept North Florida at bay throughout the set and led by as much as seven at 23-16 following a sequence that saw kills from Bolding and Dostal along with another ace from Perosa. A comeback attempt by the Ospreys got them within three at 23-20, but Romancova and
Autumn DeSantis recorded back-to-back kills to take the set 25-20 and go back ahead in the match 2-1.
Set four was controlled by the Ospreys from start to finish as JU was kept out of sync by a UNF attack that hit over .500 in the set as they evened the match at 2-2, winning 25-11 to force a decisive set five.
Jacksonville jumped out to an early 4-2 lead in the final set of the night behind kills from Dostal and some miscues by North Florida before the Ospreys went on an 11-1 run to go in front 13-5, as they finished the night with a 15-7 win to take the match 3-2.
Bolding led Jacksonville with 14 kills, hitting .324 and added five blocks. Dostal posted a 12-kill night along with a pair of digs while DeSantis finished with nine kills and six digs. Honn posted a double-double with 36 assists and 16 digs along with two aces, while Perosa added a season-best 20 digs and two aces.
Addyson Lewis recorded career-best 15 digs as JU finished with season-high 83 digs.
The Dolphins will be back at Swisher Gymnasium Wednesday night at 6 PM, as they welcome back Stetson for the final meeting of the regular season between the two teams.
