Bulls Stumble in Five Sets At Pittsburgh

Saturday, October 4

Pittsburgh, Pa.

2:00 PM

University of South Florida

Pittsburgh

Mariana Thon Named to BIG EAST Honor Roll

Bulls Stumble in Five Sets At Pittsburgh

October 04, 2008 | Women's Volleyball

By: USF

Box Score

Pittsburgh, Pa. - - In its first conference road test of the season, the University of South Florida volleyball team had an extremely hard fought battle against the Pittsburgh Panthers, but fell in five sets 23-25, 25-27, 25-22, 25-19, 10-15.

Following the match, USF moves to 10-7, 1-2 on the year while Pitt boosts up to 10-7, 3-0.

The two primary USF middles, Nakia Williams and Alli Arbogast both played an outstanding match and set personal records.

Williams, a Bowie, Md. native, had the chance to perform in front of friends and family, and came out with one of her best career performances. With her 16 kills, it was the sixth time Williams has executed on 10 or more this year, and her most ever in a single match. Williams entered the year with seven matches of 10 kills or more during her first three seasons combined, and already sits just one short of that doubling that total in just one season.

Arbogast hit at a .611 percentage after connecting on a career-high 13 kills with only two errors in 18 attacks. The junior out of St. Louis also had four block assists.

Mariana Thon, a sophomore out of Puerto Rico, had a solid day both with assists and on the setter's attack with a season-best 52 helpers and five kills. Thon also put together her fourth double-double of the year and seventh for her career thanks to her 13 digs.

Junior Jarka Havlickova saw a lot time on the floor and produced six kills and a match-high six block assists.

Senior libero Stephanie Augustavo had a season-high 28 digs on the match, falling just one shy of her career-best against Rutgers on Oct. 22, 2006. Augustavo also helped out with the most assists she's ever had in a match with six.

As a team, USF out-blocked Pittsburgh 12.5-to-8.0.

During the first set, the Bulls came out spreading the ball around to several different attackers. With USF up 10-9 in the opener, Arbogast, Allie Boaz, Alli O'Connor, Williams, Gurgel and Thon each had already registered at least one kill.

Down 16-13, a 4-0 Bulls run to re-take the lead was jump started by a Williams middle attack kill, then followed by an O'Connor ace, a Panther error and a big double block from Havlickova and Williams.

Trailing late at 24-22, a Boaz kill brought USF within one, but Pitt earned the side out it needed on a crucial set point to drop the Bulls 25-23 in the first. In the team's four true road matches this season, only once, at Seattle, has USF come away with the early 1-0 lead.

The Bulls came out in the second set and hopped out to an early 5-2 lead, but the home Panthers answered back quickly by taking 10 of the following 12 points to lead by five.

USF was able to slowly claw its way back into the set and eventually knotted up the score at 16-all, then grabbed the lead after a right side attack error by Pitt.

Havlickova was the key to continuing the Bulls' run when she hammered down a crosscourt kill then combined with Arbogast for a double block to put the green and gold ahead 19-16.

Down set points at 24-23 and 25-24, the Bulls were able to fight it off with kills, but third time was the charm for Pitt as a block clinched the second set, 27-25, to mark the first time this season that USF has trailed 0-2 in a match.

Coming out in the third set, USF and Pitt were squared up at nine points each before Gurgel connected on a kill then Havlickova and Arbogast rejected a Panther attempt to lead 11-9.

A back and forth battle in the third saw the two teams tied once again at 19-19 after Gurgel put down a kill near the 10-foot line.

Just a few points later at 21-21, Arbogast had a massive solo block to put her team ahead by one. It was a lead that the Bulls would not relinquish. Havlickova and Williams closed out the thrilling set, 25-22, with another block against a Pitt outside attack.

Early in the fourth at 3-1 in favor of USF, Gurgel smashed her first ace of the match to go ahead by a trio of points. Arbogast took over from there by being a dominate force at the net by helping out on six of the next eight points either with a kill or block to gain a 16-10 advantage on the scoreboard.

From there, the Bulls wound up forcing the fifth and deciding set when five Gurgel kills throughout the latter quarter of the set helped out in the 25-19 win.

USF entered the year 0-2 in five-set matches with losses to Arizona State and Portland.

The marathon match marked the third straight match and five of the last six that Pitt has gone the full distance.

USF grabbed the early fifth set lead at 3-1 after Gurgel and O'Connor went back-to-back with kills. Pitt fought back quickly with the help of outstanding defensive play with a 4-0 run, then went on to close out the set and match at 15-10.

The Bulls hope to return back to the Fitzgerald Field House later this season when the BIG EAST Championships are played on Nov. 21-23.

Tomorrow, USF will head to Morgantown, W. Va. to play against the Mountaineers. First serve is set for 1 p.m.