The Lions hit the road to Fort Myers Florida and look to secure their first ever all-time win in the ASUN Conference Championship tournament from Nov. 20-23.
UNA is one of eight schools to participate along with FGCU (host), Jacksonville, EKU, Central Arkansas, Lipscomb, Queens and North Florida at Alico Arena. All matches will be featured on ESPN+.
Four contests will take place Thursday at 3 p.m. CT. Seventh seed UNA will face second seed Jacksonville, who defeated the Lions 3-0 earlier this season. The Dolphins swept UNA with the first two sets ending 12-25. The Lions showed a potential comeback for the third set but it was too late– it ended 22-25. Jacksonville finished the regular season 21-7 overall with a 12-4 ASUN record, leading the league in wins. They were also ASUN’s best serving team with 1.90 aces per set, had four All-ASUN team members and their head coach Alicia Manguiat was voted ASUN coach of the year.
While the Lions start their postseason with fierce competition, Head Coach Tristan Johnson is confident that the scoreboard will reflect their growth over the season.
“[Jacksonville] is a really talented team obviously, they’ve had a great season,” Johnson said. “The last time we played them, we were coming off of, I would say, one of the most difficult travel weeks that I’ve really ever had as a coach. I definitely think we’re a different team now than we were.”
Johnson added what the team can do specifically to move forward in the tournament.
“Their offense is really physical and we’ll have to do a good job serving to try and keep them off balance,” he said. “They’re a really good blocking team, so our attackers will have to do a good job of trying to work around the block.”
The Lions ended the regular season with a 14-15 overall record and an 8-8 conference record. They have had more success at CB&S Bank Arena going 7-4 and struggle to adjust away from home going 3-9.
While staying healthy is a priority for all sports, Johnson made known what else it will take for the Lions to take the ASUN trophy home.
“I think we just have to be ourselves,” Johnson said. “We’ve shown we’re good enough to beat any team in the league, we beat the team that won the conference [FGCU]. It’s just being confident in ourselves and knowing that we can do it. We just have to go for it.”
The 2025 postseason awards were announced by the ASUN conference on Nov. 19. Junior Kendall Barnes secured a Second team All-ASUN for her first season with the Lions and leads the team with 400 kills. She ranks second in the ASUN in total kills and third in kills per set (3.57).
Sophomores Reese Ricketts and Kinslee McGowan both earned Third Team All-ASUN honors. Ricketts ranks third in the ASUN with 406 points and 362 kills while setter McGowan leads the ASUN with 1,122 assists. She is also second in assists per set with 9.93.
Semifinal matches will be held Friday at 4 and 7 p.m. and the finale will be at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
To ease the pressure of the tournament, the Lions hit the road a few days prior for traditional team bonding fun.
Johnson said, “There’s an outlet mall in Fort Myers that we take the girls to every year. We’re going to go to a really nice restaurant on the water and get the girls a nice dinner.”
Full results and recaps will be featured on RoarLions.com following each match. For real-time updates, check out the UNA Volleyball social media.
