GREENVILLE, N.C. Nov. 3, 2017 – The University of South Florida volleyball team dropped a four-set match to ECU Friday night (12-25, 25-23, 27-29, 16-25).

After losing the first set, the Bulls (9-14, 4-9 The American) rode the offense of senior Joli Holland (Dublin, Calif.) and freshman Doris Carter (Lexington, Ky.) in the second. Two kills each from Holland and Carter gave the Bulls a 4-0 run, making it 13-9. The lead extended to as much as five and did not dip below two, until the Pirates (17-9, 8-5 The American) cut the deficit to one, 24-23. But a Clara Payne (Osteen, Fla.) kill finished the set on the next serve.
 
ECU jumped out to an eight-point lead midway through the third set, 14-6. But the Bulls used a 6-1 run to make it a three-point set, 15-12. USF cut the margin to one on two separate instances thanks to kills from Carter. Three-straight kills from Carter, Holland and Reagan Davey (Ocala, Fla.) then gave the Bulls a 25-24 edge. USF would again have set point at 27-26, but three-straight points from ECU closed the set, 29-27. A Davey kill got the Bulls within two in the fourth set, 17-15. But the Pirates clinched the match, finishing set four on an 8-1 run.  
 
KEY STATS

• Carter finished with 15 kills on a .419 hitting percentage. She has reached double-digit kills 11 times this season.
• Holland tallied 13 kills on a .375 hitting clip. Payne had five kills and two block assists.
• In total, seven Bulls had kills.
• Junior setter Briana Stowell (Orlando) had a season-high 38 assists.   

UP NEXT
The Bulls head to Cincinnati to close the weekend with a 1:00 p.m. start on Sunday.       

About USF Volleyball
In addition to 10 newcomers, USF returns a large core of talent for 2017, led by senior setter Alex Mendoza, who surpassed the 2,000 assist total in 2016 and posted a team-high 1,125 helpers. Redshirt-junior middle blocker Clara Payne finished second on the team with 340 points and senior middle blocker Joli Holland finished fourth with 251.5 points. The Bulls are guided by sixth-year head coach Courtney Draper.
 
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