USF 3, FAMU 0  | Box Score PDF | Live Chat Transcript   1 2 3 4 5 F USF 25 25 25 - - 3 FAMU 20 23 21 - - 0  Top Performers  Player Kills Hitting Pct. Assists Digs Points USF - Strazdina 12 .529 0 10 16.0 USF - Rodriguez Gomez 10 .500 1 1 11.0 USF - Thon 0 -.500 31 1 1.5 USF - Rivera 0 -.500 1 14 0.0 USF Volleyball Central • Volleyball Main Page | Ticket Information | BullsVision • 2010 Weekly Releases • USF Season Statistics | BIG EAST Conference | NCAA

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -  The University of South Florida volleyball was looking to rebound after its season opening loss to Florida State and that's what they did against Florida A&M, as the Bulls swept the Rattlers, 3-0, on Sunday afternoon in the Lawson Center to earn their first win of the 2010 season.

"What I was really pleased about, it was a team win," said head coach Claire Lessinger. "We put a lot of emphasis on the first ball. The pass was there which allowed us to run our offense and hit at a high efficiency. The match against FAMU allowed us to bounce back from the loss to Florida State and help us improve on our side of the court, so we have a lot to take from this win"

The Bulls hit at an impressive .365 clip to the Lady Rattlers .226. Sophomore Maija Strazdina had the best match of her career as the Latvia native earned her first double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs. The outside hitter also served up a match high three aces. Freshman Rodriguez Gomez also reached double-digit with 10 kills hitting at .500 for the match.

"Maija put together strong back-to-back matches for us offensively," said Lessinger. "I think she is filling the L1 spot nicely for us. She understands the responsibilities of that what that position entails."

Both sophomores Strazdina and Breen set the tone with four kills for the first set. The Bulls dominated the set never allowing FAMU to never even the score as freshman Rodriguez Gomez slammed down a kill right out of the gates. Strazdina put down one of her two aces in the set for the second point and strung together back-to-back kills for the sixth and seventh points.

After a kill by Caitlyn Breen at 14-11, Florida A&M was forced to call a timeout. The Lady Rattlers could not regain its focus as two attack errors followed the break. The team closed out the set on a 3-0 run with a kill by Allie Boaz, solo block from Strazdina and a kill by Breen.  

After trailing early in the second set 3-1, USF went on a 3-0 run to retake the lead. Rodriguez Gomez banged a kill and Rozier put up a solo block to even the score 3-3. An ace by Rodriguez Gomez allowed the Bulls to retake a 4-3 lead but the Bulls never put the set out of reach. In a back and forth set, the Bulls still came away with the win.

Being down 23-22, Breen put up a monster block to even the score at 23. After being an offensive weapon all afternoon, Strazdina tipped a ball out of the reach of the Rattler defenders to put the Bulls up by one. An attack error by FAMU's biggest offensive weapon, Maria Ceccarelli, gave the Bulls a dominating 2-0 lead.

Just needing to reach 25 first, USF did just that. Although being down, 5-2 in the final set, Rozier served an ace right at the base line to cut FAMU's lead to one. The Bulls first evened the score at 7-7 on a Rodriguez Gomez kill.

Trailing 10-9, Rodriguez Gomez helped the Bulls retake the lead with a 5-0 run with three kills in that span. The Rattlers turned around immediatley with four straight points to even the score, 14-14.

Lessinger called a timeout at 21-21 to stop FAMU's momentum and it did just that. Boaz' kill edged the Bulls closer to 25. Rodriguez Gomez and Boaz teamed up to block Ceccarelli's attack and take the 23-21 lead. Another kill by Boaz followed by a block by Breen and Thon gave the Bulls at 3-0 win.

The Bulls will continue the road portion of its schedule as they travel north to Lexington for the Kentucky Classic to face NCAA tournament team Ohio State at 5 p.m. on Friday, and then play host Kentucky at 11 a.m. on Saturday before closing the day with Miami (OH) at 5:30 p.m.