Box Score
Pittsburgh, Pa. - - In a quarterfinal match of the BIG EAST Championships, the University of South Florida volleyball team was defeated by the No. 1 seed St. John's Red Storm in three sets, 16-25, 21-25, 21-25.
The blemish on the record drops the Bulls to 17-13 on the season and marks the third consecutive season that the team has been ousted from the tournament by the Red Storm. St. John's moves on to tomorrow's semifinal action and will face the No. 4 seed Notre Dame.
Sophomore right side attacker Allie Boaz led the squad with 10 kills and hit at a .529 percentage.
Senior Nakia Williams, in her final BIG EAST competition, pounded down nine kills and had four total blocks.
On the outside, Marcela Gurgel consistently faced triple blocks from St. John's and wound up matching her kill total of eight with the same amount of digs.
As a team, USF out-blocked St. John's 8.0-to-5.0, but it was the Red Storm's ability to side out at a considerably higher percentage that made a big difference in the match.
Gurgel opened up the match with a cross court kill on the very first point, but the Bulls were unable to build a lead larger than two in the set. Later, trailing 16-11, USF was able to grab a couple of points to get within three, but the Red Storm pulled away from there and secured the first set by a 25-16 score. Williams was a bright spot for the Bulls in the set by converting on all three attacks she attempted.
The two teams traded points throughout the beginning of the second set, as the scoreboard showed 8-8. After a dozen more points, the count was still knotted up, but at 14-14 as neither team could pull away with a big advantage. St. John's went ahead by a pair at 18-16, but Williams and Boaz led the charge back by sparking the Bulls to a 3-0 run to re-take the slim lead at 19-18. Out of a Red Storm timeout, the No. 1 seeded team went on a 6-0 run of their own to grab control at 24-19. Kills by Gurgel and O'Connor kept the set alive for USF despite trailing at set point, but St. John's was finally able to capitalize and head into the intermission up 2-0 after Casie Brooks converted on a right side attack.
Down 3-2 early in the third, the USF block set up a wall that was the cause for a 3-0 run by the green and gold. Offensive struggles became a problem though for the Bulls and St. John's was able to get going with six consecutive points to go ahead 12-7. USF was able to mount a mini rally by pulling within two at 19-17, but could not overcome the deficit and fell 25-21.
The Bulls will still have one more final regular season match on the 2008 season. On Wednesday, Nov. 26, Florida International will come to the Corral for a Noon start time.
