USF stays hot, beats FAMU

USF is staying with the offense.

Three Bulls reached double-digit kills and attacked at over .300 for the third-straight match as the offense continued its hot streak in a 3-1 victory over Florida A&M on Tuesday night in the Sun Dome Corral.

“I’m just really proud of the offensive consistency,” said USF coach Claire Lessinger. “I wanted to diversify our offense and I feel like we did a really good job with that. We’re just really clicking right now. We’ve strung three good matches together, and that’s the best we’ve done all year.”

Senior outside hitter Pamela Luiz led the team with 14 kills, junior Allie Boaz added 11 and senior Marcela Gurgel had 10. Gurgel, however, was forced to leave the match after feeling weak and was taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons.

“I’m really pleased with how our team fought for Marcela tonight,” Lessinger said. “They played for her for sure and for us to lose that player and respond the way we did, I couldn’t be prouder of these girls.”

Latvian freshman Maija Strazdina stepped into Gurgel’s shoes and performed well, totaling six kills in her most significant appearance for the Bulls this season.

“In the beginning I was so scared, but I had a lot of fun,” Strazdina said. “My teammates helped me through the match.”

The USF defense continued to dominate, stifling the Florida A&M offense to a .101 attacking percentage. USF won the blocking battle 13-3 on a strong performance by senior Alli Arbogast, who recorded one solo block and seven block assists.

USF improved to 4-1 on the season against Florida teams. The only defeat was a 3-1 loss to No. 4 Florida.