HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. –
Jenna Ruble picked up eight of her 11 kills in the final two sets to help the Northern Kentucky University volleyball team to a 3-2 (25-18, 18-25, 19-25, 25-23, 15-12) win over Atlantic Sun Conference foe North Florida on Friday evening.
With the win, NKU improved to 12-5 overall and 2-2 in A-Sun play. It also kept the Norse perfect in five-set matches, notching their third win when going the distance this season.
"I think we've been handling our composure really well, but this was the first time we've really finished out sets four and five," said NKU head coach
Liz Hart. "We stepped up, and we got kills; it might not have been pretty, but we gutted it out and got it done."
Ruble attacked at a .409 clip after being held to just three kills over the first three sets of the match.
"Jenna's experience and compsure is what did it for sets four and five. She started out a little slow on the kills in the beginning of the match, but at the end, she really stepped up and did whatever it took," added Hart. "Same with
Jayden Julian – you could see it with her emotions and her body language that she wanted to win."
"It's a team effort. We do really well using our outsides while they're hot, then I can step in and start doing my thing," said Ruble of her performance. "It's the whole front row. We just play on each other's success."
Jayden Julian led that outside attack with 18 kills, while
Megan Wanstrath added 11 kills and
Tristen Simpson chipped in nine.
Keely Creamer also posted 11 kills in the match from the middle.
"In the beginning of the match, we thought they would go after our middles, so we established our outsides," said Hart of the team's early strategy. "I think they were both hitting over .350 in the first set, but then we were able to mix it up, in and out, and Megan was able to get some big kills – that seven in the fifth set was huge."
"Our middles have been doing so well in our conference, so one of the first things that they were going to do is focus on our middles," added Julian. "Once we established our outsides, we were able to go back to the middle and it was just fair game from then on out."
Wanstrath's kill to make it 7-4 saved a hard-fought rally for the Norse and capped a 3-0 run that set the tone for the deciding set. Wanstrath picked up a pair of kills in the final set, while Ruble and Julian each had three.
Mel Stewart's 13 digs paced the back row for the Norse, while
Lauren Hurley added 10 digs as well.
Taylor Snyder had 48 assists and nine digs.
Courtney Miller posted 19 kills and added 16 digs, both team-highs for North Florida, which fell to 5-13 overall and 0-4 in A-Sun play. Tessa Alyman had 12 kills and Cameron McGuire posted 10 kills.
NKU hit at a blistering .458 clip in a high-impact first set, a 25-18 win for the Norse. Julian's four kills set the pace in the early going, while Wanstrath and Simpson had three each. Alyman came back with five kills in the second set, including one in the set-ending 5-1 run for the Ospreys, who answered with a 25-18 set win of their own to level the match.
The Norse struggled offensively in Set 3, hitting negative on the set due in part to four blocks from the North Florida front row. Cari Whitmire picked up seven of her 16 digs in the set as well as North Florida took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-19 set win.
Trailing 22-20 in Set 4, Julian posted back-to-back kills to level the match for the Norse and spur a 5-1, set-ending run. After Miller got the sideout for the Ospreys, Wanstrath took the ball back for good for the Norse, and Creamer finished off the set with a powerful kill down the middle.
The Norse face a quick turnaround, taking on Jacksonville on Saturday at 1 p.m. It's Norse Knowledge Day, and fans can receive $1 off admission with the donation of a new or gently-used book to benefit Newport Intermediate School. It's also Serve It Up Saturday, where our young fans will be able to meet and receive autographs from Norse players.
