TAMPA, OCT. 4, 2015 – USF volleyball rallied from two sets down to defeat Tulane 3-2 (19-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-16, 15-11) Sunday in The Corral.
The Bulls were led by juniors Dakota Hampton and Elyse Panick who both finished with a career-high 18 kills. Panick, a transfer from Marshall, hit a match-best .630. Both stepped up big for the Bulls who improved to 5-11 overall and 2-2 in the American Athletic Conference.
It was a much-needed win for USF after dropping a five-set match to Houston on Friday.
“We started a little bit slow in those first two sets. Things were a little flat,” said head coach Courtney Draper. “But our staff stayed calm between sets two and three. We told them how much we believed in them especially with the way they came back on Friday.”
As a team, USF had an attack percentage of .282, which increased dramatically after the first two sets (0.81, .229). USF hit .345, .387 and .529 in sets three, four and five, respectively.
“We went from a 5-1 offense to a 6-2 which gave us three hitters which is more difficult to defend,” said Draper on changes made between sets two and three. “We haven't done that much this year so they didn't anticipate that out of us.”
The offensive change did wonders for the Bulls. After winning the third and fourth sets, USF took a quick 4-1 lead in the fifth set won 15-11 without ever trailing.
Freshman Molly Burkhardt led the Bulls with a career-high 35 assists while recording six digs. Junior Alexus Heidelberg came off the bench to provide nine kills and 12 digs.
“Alexus didn't start the match but performed great for us and played a very important roll tonight,” said Draper.
Tulane (7-9, 1-3) dropped its second consecutive five-set match. It lost 3-2 at UCF on Friday.
USF will next play at Memphis on Friday at 8 p.m. Its next home game is Friday, Oct. 16 against Tulsa.
- #GoBulls -
