By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
CHICAGO - The Bulls jumped ahead of DePaul and never looked back on the way to winning their third straight Big East match Friday night in Chicago.
The USF volleyball team swept the Blue Demons, 25-16, 25-15, 25-16, and improved to 5-2 in the conference for the third time under head coach Claire Lessinger.
DePaul (4-18, 1-7 in Big East) posted a negative hitting percentage in all three sets and USF's defense stepped up with 14 team blocks. The Bulls came into the match ranked 29th in the nation with 2.56 blocks per set.
“I'm so proud of the overall team defense tonight,” Lessinger said. “It started at the service line, where we were very aggressive and continued to the net, where our blocking was extremely disciplined and ended with our backcourt defense doing everything in its power to keep balls off the floor.”
Valerie El Houssine led the way with 12 kills, while Kimika Rozier stepped up with eight kills, seven blocks and led the Bulls with a .636 hitting percentage.
“Kimika had a huge performance offensively and defensively,” Lessinger said.
Shelbie Dailey chipped in with 28 assists and Janice Rivera racked up 17 digs to help USF (9-11) improve to 15-5 all-time against DePaul.
Next up, the Bulls will chase down history and try to inch closer to a memorable milestone.
USF plays at Notre Dame 2 p.m. Sunday and will attempt to win its first-ever match against the Irish. Lessinger is two wins away from 100 in her USF career and ranks fourth all-time in the program's history.
“We will enjoy this for about a minute as we head back to the hotel to start preparing for Notre Dame,” said Lessinger of win No. 98.
