Volleyball opens season in New York

The volleyball team suffered a loss to start its season but quickly bounced back to win the final two matches during a tournament in New York.

In the first match of the weekend, USF fell to Buffalo 3-2. Each team traded matches until Buffalo came out with a 5-1 lead and eventually took the fifth and deciding game.

“It was a disappointing loss to Buffalo but I think it was just a case of first match jitters,” coach Claire Lessinger said. “We had to go through our growing pains a little bit.”

The Bulls showed some were led by breakout performances from three players. Jarka Havlickova and Alli Arbogast both set a career high in block assists with five. Junior middle blocker Nakia Williams posted a career high in kills with ten along with her team leading eight block assists.

The Bulls got out to a quick and early lead in their second game of the day against Niagara winning 3-0. The Bulls scoring rate inflated from .113 against Buffalo to .304 against the Purple Eagles.

After a slow start against Buffalo, the Bulls offensive play improved as USF out-scored Niagara 90-58 throughout the match and netted 12 more kills that the Purple Eagles.

“It was good to see us bounce back and make some adjustments,” Lessinger said. “We played an exhausting game in Buffalo and really came out to play during game two with eyes wide open and a good focus.”

Williams hit .500 for the game and Marcel Gurgel led the Bulls for the second game in a row with 16 kills and 11 digs for the only double-double of the game.

On Sunday, the Bulls continued their high level of play by defeating Fordham 3-1 to end the tournament with another victory. USF split the first two matches but dominated the third match 30-13 and clinched the series win with a close game four.

USF continued its offensive dominance, hitting .467 to go along with four aces. Stephanie Augustavo led all players with 24 digs and Arbogast set a career high with six blocks.

Gurgel and Kristina Fabris both continued their outstanding play. Gurgel tallied a double-double in each game on the weekend. With her 26 kills on Sunday, she moved herself into eighth place in the USF record books with 1,053. Fabris posted two double-doubles with 49 kills and 36 digs to earn all-tournament honors.

“Kristina and Marcel really stepped up big for us and handled the high pressure situations throughout tournament,” Lessinger said. “I really think that they can be the backbone of this team and lead the other players to more victories.”

-Daniel Falco