Bulls sweep weekend at Corral

The USF volleyball team won both with much and little struggle this weekend and improved to .500 in the Big East.

The Georgetown Hoyas met the Bulls in a loud Sun Dome Corral on Sunday afternoon, when the Bulls came out on top winning the match 3-2.

USF dominated the first set carried by a trio of players. Freshman Erin Fairs and Ciara Brown and junior Kayla Walton combined for 11 kills and the Bulls posted 80 percent on sideouts.

That dropped significantly to only 43 percent in the second set, which the Bulls lost 25-17. The Bulls won the third set, though, 25-13, led by sophomore outside hitter Valerie El-Houssine, who went seven-of-11 on kill attempts after posting an uncharacteristic two of 13 in the first two sets.

Walton carried the Bulls in the fourth set, but it was not enough to pull USF through, with Georgetown winning 25-18.

After splitting the first four sets in a struggle of inconsistent attacks, the match was forced to a fifth. The Bulls won the fifth set 15-10 to seal the match.

Fairs is becoming a defensive specialist for the Bulls, as she added another 19 digs along with 10 kills for her eighth double-double this season.

Shes doing a really good job at reading the setter and the attacker, coach Courtney Draper said.

Senior Claudia Cabrera led the team in digs with 26.

Friday night was a different story as USF made quick work of the Villanova Wildcats over three sets, 25-16, 25-23 and 25-21.

Draper said her coaching staff recorded statistics at practice during the week, which made them decide to start senior Shelbey Bleke in Fridays match.

We wanted to make sure were making the right decisions about who is starting, Draper said. Shelbey has been very consistent on offense and defense. We took a risk and it paid off.