Kennesaw State volleyball drops match to North Florida

By E. Marcel Pourtout, Editor

The Kennesaw State vollyball team dropped its Atlantic Sun match to North Florida 3-2 (25-14, 21-25, 22-25, 25-21, 15-9) on Saturday at the Convocation Center in Kennesaw.

Kelly Marcinek had a team-high 10 kills in the loss while Cierra Royster and Anaiah Boyer each had nine kills. Katarina Morton’s 19 digs were a team-high while Boyer notched 10 kills for a double-double. Kristi Piedimonte had a game-high 33 assists.

“First and foremost, I’m proud of the team because we challenged them in the locker room last night to come out and win today after an emotional night last night,” head coach Keith Schunzel said. “And after getting blown out in the first set, we came out and played hard and took the second and the third, and I’m proud of them for rising to that challenge.”

The Owls (10-14, 4-6) dropped the first set to the Ospreys(11-15, 4-6) 25-14. North Florida had a hitting percentage of .607 in the frame, scoring eight of the last 10 points to secure the set.

Kennesaw State responded with a 25-21 win in the second set. WIth the set tied at 13-13, the Owls went on a 6-2 run to take control. Highlights included kills from Chade Martin, Piedimonte, Royster and an ace from Ria Ridley who had seven kills in the match.

The Owls took a 2-1 lead in the match after winning the third set 25-22. Leading 18-16 in the set, an ace by Piedimonte sparked Kennesaw State into the set win.

With the fourth set tied at 20, the Ospreys closed the set on a 5-1 run to tie the score at two sets each. In the fifth, North Florida  went on a 5-0 run to take a 7-3 lead and went on to clinch the match 15-9.

Courtney Miller had a game-high 16 kills while Carina Hoff (13) and Cameron McGuire (10) also notched double-digit kills. Cari Whitmire had a game-high 27 digs while Abby Fesl 30 assists were a team-high.