CLEARWATER BEACH, Fla., March 28, 2026 – The University of South Florida beach volleyball team split a pair of matches on Saturday, defeating Sacramento State before falling to UAB to close out the Stampede Beach Opener at Clearwater Beach.
 
South Florida 4, Sacramento State 1
The Bulls opened the day with a strong 4-1 victory over Sacramento State, winning four of five courts. 
 
Isabella Almeida and Zoey Mitchell (Pair 2) secured the first point of the day for South Florida with a 21-13, 21-18 victory. Tereza Lajkebová and Kate Stewart (Pair 4) followed with a straight-set win, 21-19, 21-17 against Greta Davis and Skyler Gartin. 
 
Morgan Anderson and Alyx Zapatka (Pair 5) clinched the match on court five, defeating Karlie Sphohn and Keonahli'ila Solaita 21-15, 21-17. 
 
On court one, Julia Panko and Cornelia Crudu (Pair 1) picked up another point for South Florida to give the Bulls a 4-0 lead with a 21-19, 21-10 win.
 
Sacramento State earned its lone point on court three. 
 
South Florida 1, UAB 4
In the afternoon match-up, South Florida dropped a 4-1 decision to UAB. 
 
Stewart and Lajkebová earned the first point for the Bulls, defeating Isabel Day and Claudia Stockard 21-16, 21-18. On court two, the Blazers took set one, but Mitchell and Almeida battled back in set two to force a third set. The Blazers took set three 15-13 to earn their first point of the day. 
 
UAB extended the lead 2-1 with a 21-16,21-14 win on court five. On court three, Sasha Pasloski and Josephine Sek fought hard through two sets, but fell to Olivia Chychrun and Ava Knott, 21-18, 21-18. 
 
UAB secured the final point on court one in a three-set thriller. Panko and Crudu gave it their all in the third set, but UAB pulled away with a 15-6 win to close out the match.
 
 
UP NEXT
South Florida will head to Atlanta, Ga. next weekend to face Mercer, Georgia State, North Alabama, and UAB in the GSU Diggin' Duals tournament, Apr.3-4.
 
Note-A-Bulls:
• Dominant Duo Goes Undefeated- Lajkebová and Stewart went undefeated on the weekend, extending their win streak to 11.
 

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About USF Beach Volleyball
The University of South Florida Beach Volleyball program is the newest program in the now 21-team USF Athletics program. South Florida Beach Volleyball joined Conference USA on July 1, 2025. Pri Piantadosi-Lima was named South Florida's first-ever beach volleyball head coach on June 6, 2023. She also serves as the head coach of USAV Beach and the national team development program and was honored as the 2022 USA Volleyball Female Junior Coach of the Year. Before joining South Florida, Piantadosi-Lima helped launch the Eckerd College program in 2015 as an assistant coach and helped lead the program to its first AVCA national championship and two consecutive NCAA championship podium finishes.


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