TAMPA – The University of South Florida volleyball team (10-20, 7-11 AAC) won the final home match of the 2015 season with a 3-1 victory (25-12, 25-19, 22-25, 26-24) over Memphis (17-14, 8-10 AAC) on Sunday afternoon. Juniors Denise Belcher (Apopka, Fla.) and Dakota Hampton (Orland Park, Ill.) led the Bulls by combining for 37 kills in the season sweep of Memphis.
“Both of our outsides had phenomenal nights,” said USF head volleyball coach Courtney Draper. “Any time an outside hitter can hit above .300 is very impressive. Our digging was incredible. The effort our team put forward today was one of the best of the season.”
Prior to the match, the Bulls honored three seniors in a pre-match ceremony for libero Wylie Devlin (Winter Park, Fla.), setter Olga Morekhodova (Key West, Fla.) and setter Natalia Soares (Porto Alegre, Brazil).
The Bulls utilized a 9-1 run on their way to a 25-12 set one victory. USF tallied 15 kills in the set and posted a .382 hitting percentage early on.
The success continued in the second set. After the teams split the first eight points, the Bulls pulled away with 12 of the next 15 points on their way to the 25-19 win. Hampton notched another four kills in the set as USF pulled ahead 2-0 in the match.
Memphis bounced back, however, winning the third set 25-22 and putting the Bulls behind 21-18 in the fourth. Facing set point, USF overcame the deficit by rattling off the final three points, including two on Devlin's serves, to take the match.
“Our senior setters did a really good job of running our offense tonight,” Hampton said. “It was a great night to end our (home) season on.”
Devlin concluded the match with 24 digs. Soares also posted a double-double of 30 assists and 11 digs. Morekhodova had a season-best 20 digs as well.
“All three seniors played today,” added Draper, “and they played extremely well.”
Hampton logged her 16th double-double of the season with 21 kills and 16 digs. Her .463 hitting percentage is a new career-high.
Belcher also compiled 16 kills and a .343 hitting percentage in the victory.
The Bulls hit .269 as a team in the match to snap a three-game losing streak.
USF is on the road to complete the 2015 regular season at SMU (Nov. 25) and at Tulsa (Nov. 27).
-GoUSFBulls.com-
