TAMPA, Sept. 24, 2017 –The USF volleyball team had five record double-digit kills in a four sets loss to ECU Sunday afternoon (25-18, 23-25, 23-25, 18-25).
 
The Bulls (4-7, 0-1 The American) came out on fire in the opening set, jumping out to a 14-4 lead. The Pirates (9-5, 1-1 The American) got no closer than five points, as USF went on to win 25-18.
 
Set two was evenly matched, with 11 ties and five lead changes. With the Bulls leading 20-18, the Pirates went on a 5-1 run and took the set, 25-23.
 
USF came out strong in the third set, leading12-5 early on before an 8-2 run from ECU made it 14-13. The Pirates took their first lead of the set at 19-18, then had match point at 24-21. The Bulls got to within a point after an Alex Mendoza (Minneola, Fla.) service ace, but ECU took the set 25-23 at the end of a long rally.
 
The fourth set was close early, tied 8-8. ECU went on an 8-2 run and led by no fewer than five the rest of the way to win the set and match.
 
NOTABLE NUMBERS
7: Mendoza recorded 49 assists in the match and now has 349 on the season. She has 2,572 for her career and moved into seventh place in program history.   
5: Five Bulls recorded double-digit, marking the first time that has happened since Sept. 5, 2015.
 
KEY STATS
•           Senior Joli Holland (Dublin, Calif.) recorded 10 kills, hit .562 and tallied two solo blocks.
•           Redshirt-junior middle blocker Clara Payne (Osteen, Fla.) notched 10 kills and three block assists.  
•           Outside hitters Priscilla Ehieze (Houston, Fla.), Reagan Davey (Ocala, Fla.) and Doris Carter (Lexington, Ky.) had 10, 13 and 10 kills, respectively.

UP NEXT
USF will host Bethune-Cookman in the rescheduled USF Classic match. First serve is set for Tuesday at 7 p.m.     

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.
 
Follow the volleyball team on social media (Twitter | Facebook | Instagram) and visit GoUSFBulls.com for the most up-to-date information.