Box Score
TAMPA - - In a match that could wind up having huge implications on the BIG EAST Tournament, the University of South Florida defended their home floor in a three-set sweep over the visiting Georgetown Hoyas, 25-15, 25-20, 25-16 on Saturday afternoon at the Corral.
With the win, USF moves to 13-8, 4-3 on the season while Georgetown stumbles to 11-9, 4-3. In the all-time series, the Bulls remain unbeaten at 8-0 against the Hoyas.
“Every win in this league is a big win,” said USF head coach Claire Lessinger. “We are just thankful to get out of this match in three while playing solid. It was nice to train for six days for one team and it should give us some momentum throughout the rest of the season.”
All-American junior outside hitter Marcela Gurgel played another phenomenal match to add to her successful season. Gurgel posted another double-double with 18 kills and 11 digs, while adding two aces and a season-best three block assists. Included in Gurgel's impressive day was a .500 attack percentage, which was the third time this season she has reached that number or surpassed it.
Blocking was one of the keys to the match by the Bulls as three different players had five block assists or more.
“It is one of our strengths and we did today what we are capable of doing,” said Lessinger about her team's blocking. “I feel like everyone is starting to grasp their role with it. We try to use it to get other teams out of system and I thought we did a good job in that.”
Junior Jarka Havlickova matched a career-high and set a season-high with eight block assists. Havlickova also had a fine day on the attack with six kills on only nine attacks for a .556 hitting clip.
Middle blockers Alli Arbogast and Nakia Williams each took part in five block assists and hit above .300 to make things difficult for the Hoyas at the net.
For the 15th time this season, senior libero Stephanie Augustavo had 10 or more digs in a match, this time with a match-high 13. With the total defensive effort by USF, the Hoyas were only able to amount a team hitting percentage of .062 for the match.
USF ran the 6-2 offense with both Mariana Thon and Brittany Castelamare setting efficiently. Thon racked up 17 assists while Castelamare had 15 to help the Bulls attack at a .308 team mark.
In the first set, the Hoyas came out strong with the early 9-4 lead that forced USF to call a timeout. After the one-minute break in the action, the Bulls came out and dominated the remainder of the set with a 21-6 run.
The momentum from the opening set appeared to carry over for the remainder of the match as USF grabbed the next two sets, 25-20, 25-16 to complete its second conference sweep of the season.
The Bulls return to the Corral on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. for an out of conference match-up against the in-state Florida A&M Rattlers, an NCAA tournament team from a year ago. Fans are encouraged to come out and support the match designated as this year's “Dig for the Cure” night. For more information on this charitable event, click here.
