A win just wasn’t in the cards for the University of South Florida volleyball team Friday night.

Falling victim to a five-set comeback from Connecticut, the Bulls (12-10 overall, 4-5 BIG EAST) dropped just their second conference match inside the Corral after winning the first two sets, 19-25, 24-26, 25-22, 25-21, 15-13.

“We came out strong early and made a statement, but Connecticut is a good team, and you can’t let up because they will fight back,” head coach Courtney Draper said. “We were not efficient enough tonight, but you have to give credit to Connecticut because they played well.”

Both teams played well up the middle, as USF drilled home 19 kills using its middle blockers, and the Huskies countered with 25. Junior Andrea Rodriguez Gomez led the Bulls’ middle blockers with 10 kills on 20 swings, and senior Caitlyn Breen added nine, hitting .571.

After USF posted 13 kills up the middle through the first two sets, Connecticut adjusted, putting pressure on the Bulls’ passing game to force USF to hit from the pins. The Huskies’ strong blocking game took over from there, recording 6.5 blocks in the final two sets to help Connecticut edge the Bulls.

USF out-dug the Huskies 90-74, and tied Connecticut with a .234 hitting percentage. The Huskies hit .324 in the final three sets however, while the Bulls hit .212.

Freshman outside hitter Erin Fairs set a career-high in kills, leading the Bulls with 18 while racking up 17 digs. Sophomore Valerie El Houssine added 15 kills and notched a career-high 23 digs, while senior Claudia Cabrera contributed 19 digs.

Freshman Natalia Soares had 29 assists and 11 digs in the loss.