Thursday, September 29, 2005

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Eva Stoilova's 17 kills and 16 digs led three Dolphins in double figure kills as the Jacksonville volleyball team knocked off archrival UNF, 3-1, on Thursday night in front of a school record crowd of 1,011.

With the win, the Dolphins (6-10) improved to 2-0 in Atlantic Sun play and won for the fifth time in the last six matches. The win also gives the Dolphins their 11th straight win in A-Sun play. The Ospreys (8-7) dropped to 1-1 in the conference.

"We made some adjustments in game three that gave our offense some spark and we just ran with it," said JU head coach Kevin Paul. "We didn't start the match well, but game two was the difference maker. The whole match came down to ball control and we were able to be more consistent for the remainder of the match. More importantly, we're one more step closer to our goal of winning the regular season conference title. We just have to continue taking it one match at a time."

Stoilova's 17 kills was the most in the match and her 16 digs was one of five Dolphins to finish in double figures in digs.

Petya Borisova added 15 kills and 10 digs with Erin Donivan dishing out 49 assists and 16 digs. Joanna Silva racked up 12 kills to go along with a team-high 18 digs.

In a tightly contested first game, North Florida (8-7, 1-1 A-Sun) used a strong offensive attack, hitting .415 for the game to take the early lead, 30-26.

The turning point came in game two. With the Dolphins leading 29-26, the Ospreys came back to take the lead and serve for the game.

But JU fought off the game point, rallying to score the next three to tie the match at one with a 32-30 win.

Jacksonville jumped out early in both games three and four to seal the match. The Dolphins took game three 30-22 and game four, 30-20. The offense piled up 20 kills in game three and 16 more in game four, while limiting the Ospreys to under .200 hitting percentages in both games.

Five UNF players finished with double figures in kills, led by Amy Stroder's 15, but it wasn't enough to overcome a strong offensive performance by the Dolphins, who hit .226 for the match and over .300 in each of the last two games. UNF hit just .187. Jenna Thomas had a match-high 19 digs.

Jacksonville returns to the court next Sunday at Mercer on 1 p.m, while UNF is set to face undefeated Florida Atlantic next Wednesday.