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AUBURN, ALA., SEPT. 13 - Toasting some previous career highs on the way to a tournament championship, the USF volleyball team finished off the Active Ankle Challenge the right way in Auburn Saturday night.
The Bulls (4-5 overall) set several career records against Auburn in the tournament finale, using a diversified offensive effort to hold off the Tigers in a five set win, 25-22, 25-22, 31-33, 15-25, 15-13.
After cruising through the first two sets, hitting a combined .333 as a team, USF ran into a slight bump in the road, taking the form of Auburn's big block. The Tigers sent back 10 kill attempts during the third and fourth sets, forcing USF into 19 hitting errors after the Bulls recorded just 10 in the first two sets.
USF responded in a big way in the fifth however, getting four early kills from sophomore Alexus Heidelberg to pound home 11 kills in the 15-point set, adding two blocks and a service ace to account for every point but one in the set. Tied at 10 in the fifth, the Bulls scored three times in the last five points thanks to Erin Fairs' kills to earn a tournament championship.
Heidelberg recorded her first double-digit kills match of her career, crushing 13 kills and adding a big block in the fifth set, while junior Natalia Soares demolished her old record of 34 assists, contributing to 41 in the win for USF. Soares earned all-tournament honors, surpassing the 1,600-career assists mark to move into 10th on USF's all-time list in the process.
Junior Erin Fairs posted a season-high 22 kills to go with 16 digs, notching her sixth double-double of the season, and fourth 20-kill match of the season. Fairs had just five 20-kill matches during her 2013 Conference Player of the Year campaign. Fairs was named Active Ankle Challenge MVP, collecting 55 kills over three matches.
Sophomore outside hitter Dakota Hampton just missed tying her career high in digs, leading the team with 19. Hampton added four service aces and nine kills, just missing her first double-double of the season as well.
Joining Fairs and Soares on the all-tournament team was junior Jennica Mullins, whose .429 hitting percentage served as a team-high. Mullins contributed eight kills and three blocks against Auburn, finishing the weekend with 24 kills, 14 blocks and a .358 hitting percentage.
USF travels to Pittsburgh next weekend for its final non-conference tournament of the season.
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