EAST LANSING, Mich. (Sept. 2, 2005) ? The University of South Florida volleyball team dropped its season opener to Ball State, 3-2 (30-27, 34-36, 21-30, 30-23, 15-10), in the Bulls' first game of the Michigan State Spartan Invitational held at Jenison Field House in East Lansing, Mich.
Ball State slightly out-hit the Bulls, .140 compared to .104, but what proved to be the key factor in the Cardinals success was the 50 attack errors by USF, which was 19 more than Ball State gave up in the match.
USF had four players tally double-doubles in the match.
Ashley Reavis had 12 kills and 12 digs,
Kristina Fabris ? who led the team in total attacks with 65 ? registered 21 kills and 16 digs and
Michelle Stalbaum had 22 kills and 16 digs in the match for a hitting percentage of .294. Freshman setter
Kate Verhoff made her debut for the Bulls and had a solid outing with 56 assists and 12 digs for her first career double-double, while tallying six kills and four aces in her first collegiate game.
In game one, Ball State out-hit the Bulls .125 to .098. Although USF led in kills (17) and total attacks (51), the Bulls' 12 misplays handed Ball State the game. With Ball State leading 23-20, six errors by USF gave the Cardinals a 29-24 lead. The Bulls went on a 3-0 run to make the score 29-27, but Ball State took the game as Amanda McCormick tallied her only kill in the match for the winning point.
The second game proved to be a battle to the end for both teams. After the Cardinals went on a 10-3 run and then managed to make the score 19-11, the Bulls went on a 9-4 run, scoring four-straight points to cut the lead down to three, 23-20. USF finally took the lead in the match when
Ashley Reavis notched an ace to put the Bulls up 27-26. The lead would change five more times before kills by Verhoff and Fabris gave USF the 36-34 win.
The Bulls used a 25-11 run in game three to take a commanding lead. Ball State would answer back with a 5-1 run but could never get out of the hole as USF led the entire game. The Bulls out-hit Ball State .222 to -.031, and tallied 16 kills to the Cardinals' eight.
Once again the errors seemed to come back and hurt the Bulls in their final two games. In game four, USF only tallied 14 kills while committing 11 errors. Ball State only had six misplays in the game but registered a hitting percentage of .205 compared to USF's .070. In the final game eight attacking errors and a service error by the Bulls put them in the hole as it hit -.115 in the game compared to .167 by the Cardinals. With the score 10-9 in the Bulls' favor, five consecutive misplays gave Ball State a 14-10 lead and Kelly Cochran gave the Cardinals the match victory with a kill to close the deal, 15-10.
The Bulls will look to get their first win of the season when they face Michigan State tonight at 7 p.m.
