After taking the first set, the ETSU volleyball team went on to drop a hard-fought match to North Florida on Saturday at the UNF Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., 3-1(25-21, 22-25, 17-25, 23-25).”I think that UNF really came to play today,” said head coach Lindsey Devine. “They out-hustled us, and really wanted to win more than we did. Our team is very talented, but when we don’t play with intensity then teams are going to pick up on that and we will be on the losing end.”

“I think we passed more confidently in today’s match, and that made a big difference,” said UNF head volleyball coach Kevin Campbell, in an interview with UNFOspreys.com. “That helped lead to a really strong offense for our team.”

ETSU’s Whitney Cogburn posted a double-double for the second straight match as she had a team-best 15 kills and 16 digs, while McKayla Barber also had double-digit kills with 10. Alyssa Long also had a good day offensively as she tallied nine kills hitting .412 in the match.

Amanda Youell just missed her fourth double-double of the season as she had 39 assists and nine digs. Sophomore Jen Neice led the Buccaneers defensively as she totaled a team-high 18 digs from the back.

The Bucs got out to an early 7-2 lead in first set. Later in the set, ETSU used a 7-3 run to extend its lead to 16-8. The Ospreys cut the Buccaneer lead to 20-17 after a 7-2 run of their own, but the Bucs played tough down the stretch taking the set 25-21. In the second set, with the scored tied at 6-all, North Florida used a 8-3 run to take a 14-9 advantage. The Bucs tried to rally back, but the Ospreys increased their lead to 21-15 after a 6-1 run. UNF went on to take the set 25-22 and tie the match at one-all going into the break.

The Ospreys took an early 7-2 lead in the third set. North Florida increased its lead to 14-7 after taking five straight points. The Ospreys went on 7-2 run late to take the set 25-17 and a 2-1 lead in the match.Play was tight in the fourth set as the Bucs went on an 8-3 run to take the lead, 15-11. ETSU extended its lead to 20-13, but saw UNF go on an 11-1 run as the Ospreys jumped out in front 21-20.

After the Bucs tied the match at 21-all, North Florida got four of the last six points to take the set 25-23. The Bucs (6-12, 5-5 A-Sun) continue their five-game road swing next Friday as they head to USC Upstate on Tuesday.

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