Volleyball stays perfect
USF volleyball coach Claire Lessinger probably couldn’t have asked for a better start.
After sweeping the Hurricane Invitational last weekend, the Bulls won both matches in straight sets this weekend to claim their second consecutive tournament and move to 5-0 for the first time since the 2000-01 season.
On Friday, USF (5-0) opened its home season by making short work of Winthrop (1-4).
Led by Big East Preseason Player of the Year Marcela Gurgel’s 10 kills and sophomore libero Janice Rivera’s 10 digs, the Bulls swept the Eagles, 25-14, 25-14 and 25-21.
“The defensive domination and aggressive serving the team showed helped us into a comfort zone,” Lessinger said.
USF got out to a quick start in the first set, forcing the Eagles to call two timeouts en route to 9-4 and 15-8 leads.
And the Bulls didn’t slow down, closing out the set 25-14 on an Arbogast kill. The second set was much of the same as the Bulls claimed another 25-14 set victory.
Lessinger praised the team’s chemistry.
“It was good offensive distribution,” she said. “We really spread the ball around well to our offensive weapons.”
On Saturday, USF cruised to another straight-sets victory, this time over FAU (0-6), 25-16, 25-12 and 25-20. Gurgel again led the offensive attack, claiming a team-high 13 kills, with junior Allie Boaz chipping in 10.
Arbogast claimed tournament MVP, hitting .706 for the weekend and recording five service aces. Boaz (17 kills) and Gurgel (23 kills) were named to the all-tournament team. Junior Mariana Thon had 41 assists on the weekend, while sophomore Rivera had 20 digs to lead the team.
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