Bulls take two in Texas

 

The USF volleyball team traveled to Texas over the weekend, defeating two conference opponents: SMU (13-8, 5-3) in five sets Friday night and Houston (13-10, 5-3) in four sets Sunday afternoon.

USF (11-10, 5-2) won two consecutive road games for the first time this season in sophomore Erin Fairs’ return home. Fairs lived in Texas prior to coming to USF and she expected a strong showing of support from her family.

“I’m so excited. At the Houston game, I will have some support from my family that I haven’t been able to have,” Fairs said prior to the weekend.

Fairs posted double-doubles in both matches and was the key statistic contributor for the Bulls.

On Sunday, Fairs recorded one of her better matches of the season with 18 kills and 23 digs. Going into the matchup against Houston, Fairs said the support of her family added a home-crowd feel despite being on the road.

Even though Fairs impressed on Sunday, Friday’s victory showed an impressive team effort.

After winning the first set against SMU, the Bulls lost the next two and were on the brink of a loss.

Taking matches to five sets was nothing new for the Bulls, as this was their fifth time doing so this season. USF won the last two sets 25-21 and 15-10, securing a victory.

Earlier this week, USF coach Courtney Draper spoke of the importance of getting her team comfortable with playing away from the Corral.

“I feel like every time we go on the road we get a little more experience playing away, so back-to-back road trips are exciting for our team because we just got off a road trip and we know what it’s all about,” Draper said.

The Bulls return home this week to face Memphis at
8 p.m. Friday at the Corral.