Redshirt freshman Kayla Bivins put down nine of her first 12 shot attempts, but a huge performance from the Bulls' right side hitter just wasn't enough to finish off Northwestern on its home court.

USF (5-7 overall) dropped its first match of the Wildcat Invitational in Chicago Friday afternoon, coming up shy of upsetting the host after winning each of the first two sets in convincing fashion.

The Bulls hit a combined .333 over the first two sets, and led by as many as ten in the second set en route to 25-22, 25-19 wins heading into intermission. Following the break however, Northwestern grabbed momentum, forcing USF into 18 hitting errors over the final three sets to take the match, 22-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-16, 15-7.

Despite slowing down late in the match, the Bulls passed well, picking up 70 digs as a team around eight team blocks. Sophomore Erin Fairs grabbed 10 of her team-high 17 digs in the first two sets, and had help defensively as five Bulls recorded at least eight digs.

Offensively, Fairs pounded out 17 kills, but it Wildcats' outside hitter Stephanie Holthus who stole the show. The Northwestern senior collected 27 kills on 57 swings for the Wildcats, more than doubling the kills of the next-highest teammate.

Bivins' 12 kills came with just one hitting error, as the freshman hit .500 in the match. Andrea Rodriguez Gomez also hit for a high percentage, grabbing eight kills on 16 swings. Freshman Dakota Hampton recorded double-digit kills for the first time this season, notching 10 to go with her 16 digs in the loss.

The Bulls look to rebound tonight against IUPUI, facing the Jaguars at 6 p.m.