TAMPA - The University of South Florida volleyball team will continue its road portion of its schedule for the second consecutive weekend as they head north to Lexington for the Kentucky Classic Friday and Saturday.
"With a weekend under our belt, the team continues to work out the kinks and find their rhythm," said head coach Claire Lessinger. "This week in practice we are primarily focusing on the areas that need the most work on our side of the net. I look forward to the challenges ahead this weekend as we travel to UK for a highly competitive tournament. This is another great opportunity for this young team."
The Bulls opened the season with a 3-0 loss to No. 15 FSU in the Florida State Invitational but rebounded strongly, sweeping Florida A&M, 3-0, to close out the tournament.
Outside hitter Maija Strazdina, finished with 19 kills and 15 digs in two matches and was named to the all-tournament team and AVSR Global Player of the Week. The Riga, Latvia, native registered a career high 12 kills and 10 digs against Florida A&M on Sunday.
Middle blocker Andrea Rodriguez Gomez finished with 14 kills and a team-best six blocks in two matches, including a 10-kill effort on Sunday.
The Bulls (1-1 overall) begin the weekend against Ohio State (3-0 overall) on Friday before facing No. 14 Kentucky (0-2 overall) and Miami (OH) (1-2 overall) on Saturday to conclude the Classic.
With a 3-0 victory over Pittsburgh, the Ohio State women's volleyball team captured their second consecutive Sports Imports Classic title in St. John Arena Saturday night.
OSU's Katie Dull posted a match-high 15.5 points with 11 kills, one ace serve, two solo blocks and three assist blocks. Anna Szerszen contributed 13.5 points with 13 kills and one assist block and Emily Danks recorded 13 points with seven kills and a career-high six ace serves.
USF is 0-1 against the Buckeyes with its only match happening on Sept. 8, 2001. The Bulls did not win a set in the 3-0 loss in the Loyola-Chicago Invitational.
The 14th-ranked Kentucky volleyball team began the season at the Runza/AVCA Showcase and faced two top-10 ranked opponents dropping both matches in No. 2 Nebraska (3-0) and No. 9 Iowa State (3-1).
Freshman Whitney Billings emerged as a go-to-player for the Blue and White. Billings paced the team in kills in both matches and went on to average 3.43 kills per set for the weekend. She also showcased her all-around skills as she charted a perfect 1.000 reception percentage and ranked second on the team with 2.43 digs per stanza. Sophomore Stephanie Klefot made the most of her debut at libero with 29 digs on the weekend for an average of 4.14 scoops per frame.
The Bulls are winless against the Wildcats in four matches. Their last matchup was in 1999, where USF stumbled 3-1.
The match against Memphis for Miami (OH) was the 1,000 game Carolyn Condit coached during her career. She is only the 10th volleyball coach in NCAA history to reach the 1,000 games coached mark while coaching exclusively at Division I schools.
Junior middle hitter and All-Tournament member Cassie Farrell hit a career high 16 kills of her 25 of the season against the Tigers in 3-1 loss to Memphis to conclude the Belmont Invitational. The Redhawks are hitting .202 in the young season averaging 13.1 kills per set. Defensively, Miami (OH) averages 1.7 stuffs and 14.4 digs per set.
The Bulls are 1-0 against the Redhawks in their only meeting coming 1988 with a 3-1 victory.
