Nov. 8, 2007

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Junior outside hitter Kesley Clark and freshman setter Hannah Munneke each tallied double-doubles to lead the JU volleyball team to a win over North Florida, 3-1 (30-17, 30-17, 30-24), Thursday evening in SunTrust River City Rumble action at UNF Arena.

JU (17-12) hit a match-high .256 (50-18-125) from the floor while racking up 14 aces, 66 digs and 11 blocks. UNF (4-26) took advantage of 15 Dolphin service errors while hitting .100 as a team.

With the win, JU earned its first season sweep over UNF since going 1-0 in 1997. It marked the first two-game season sweep over the Ospreys since the two programs began playing two matches in 2005. The win also cut UNF's early margin in the River City Rumble standings to 4-2.

"We came out and played three good games tonight," said JU head coach Shaun Kupferberg. "We had some young players step up for us and now we need to just get healthy for the A-Sun Tournament."

Clark finished with 10 kills and 14 digs while Munneke set 45 assists to go with 10 digs. Freshman outside hitter Aidan Yeager led the squad with 11 kills while chipping in with six blocks. Freshman middle blocker Abby Gruenbacher rounded out the Dolphin offense with 10 kills and a match-high .474 (10-1-19) hitting percentage. Senior middle blocker Melissa Merchant finished with a match-high eight blocks to go with eight kills.

Claire Yonutas led the Ospreys with a match-high 13 kills to go with 10 digs and three blocks. Maegan Weisert added 12 kills and 10 digs while Bary Rasmussen rounded out the offense with 10 kills. Kaley Read led the UNF defense with six blocks to go with six kills.

In the first game, JU jumped out to an early 9-0 lead after a block by Merchant and Yeager. The Dolphins increased the margin to 13-3 on a ball handling error by Madeline Belvin before an ace by senior outside hitter Katie Hendrian made it 18-6. The Dolphins made it 21-9 on another block by Merchant and Yeager before a kill by Weisert cut the margin to 25-16 to cap a 7-4 Opsrey run. JU answered with a 5-1 run to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

In the second frame, the Dolphins jumped out to a 6-1 lead after a kill by Yeager and then increased the lead to 10-2 on a kill by Hendrian. JU increased the margin to 16-7 after a kill by Merchant and then made it 22-12 with kill by Clark. The Dolphins increased the lead to 26-14 after a block by Yeager and Merchant and then took a 2-0 lead in the match after a Merchant kill made it 30-17.

In the third game, UNF took its first lead of the match, 5-4, after a kill by Rasmussen and then increased the margin to 11-8 after an attack error by the Dolphins. The Ospreys made it 15-10 after a kill by Yonutas and then increased the margin to 20-10 with a kill by Marshay Greenlee. JU cut the margin to 23-17 after an ace by Gruenbacher and then cut the deficit to 26-22 with an ace by Clark. JU would cut the margin to 29-26 on a kill by Hendrian but an attack error by the Dolphins would give UNF the win.

In the final frame, both teams battled through the early part of the game until JU took a 7-5 lead on a kill by Merchant. The Dolphins took a 14-10 lead on an ace by senior defensive specialist Katie O'Brien and then increased the margin to 20-11 on an ace by Hendrian. UNF cut the margin to 21-14 on an ace by Weisert but JU pushed the margin to 24-15 on a kill by Clark. The Ospreys made it 24-19 on a block by Greenlee and Kaley Read and then cut the margin to 27-23 on an ace by Read. JU would end the game with a 3-1 run, capped by a kill by Gruenbacher, to take the match.

JU will next compete in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament in Macon, Ga. The Dolphins, who enter as the No. 3 seed, will face No. 6 Gardner-Webb on Nov. 15.