TAMPA - The University of South Florida volleyball team hits the court for its last home BIG EAST matches against Louisville on Friday at 7 p.m. and then Cincinnati on Sunday at 2 p.m. for Senior Day.
"This is a fun weekend for USF volleyball," said head coach Claire Lessinger. "We get the opportunity to host two great BIG EAST teams in conjunction with rowdy crowd night and our senior salute. There will be a lot of emotion wrapped around these matches and we realize that we need to stay focused and keep our composure to compete with both Louisville and Cincinnati."
USF (15-6 overall, 7-3 BIG EAST) is tied with Louisville in fourth place in the conference standings with four BIG EAST matches to be played. The Cardinals (14-9 overall, 7-3 BIG EAST) are ranked 11 points ahead of the Bulls in the Pablo Rankings. On Sunday, the Bulls turn around and face the Bearcats, who are currently in second in the BIG EAST standings and have clinched a spot in the BIG EAST tournament. The Bearcats (19-8 overall, 9-1 BIG EAST) are currently ranked No. 38 in the Pablo Rankings with four conference matches left.
Last Time Out
USF completed a 2-0 week with wins over Florida A&M and Villanova. The match over the Wildcats extended the Bulls' winning streak to five, tying their longest of the season.
Senior Pamela Luiz led the way for the Bulls with 14 kills with seven digs against the Rattlers, while junior Allie Boaz and senior Marcela Gurgel, the reigning BIG EAST Player of the Week, added 11 and 10 kills, respectively in a 3-1 win over Florida A&M.
The Bulls defeated the Wildcats while holding Villanova to a .096 hitting percentage. Gurgel continued her dominance on the court leading all hitters with 14 kills and digging 16 balls. Senior Brittany Castelamare moved into the top-10 on the career assists (1,514) list recording 21 for the match, passing Maria Hogberg for 10th.
Senior Night
The University of South Florida volleyball team will be honoring six seniors who have made a positive impact to the program and the university as a whole. Mollie Echols, Pamela Luiz, Jarka Havlickova, Alli Arbogast, Brittany Castelamare and Marcela Gurgel will be honored right before the match against Cincinnati at 2 p.m. on Sunday
National Rankings
Arbogast continues to rank in the top-10 of the national leader board for the fifth week in a row, as she slides up tied as the top player in the nation at 1.61. Redshirt freshman Caitlyn Breen finds herself 78th with 1.11 blocks and leads all freshmen in the BIG EAST. Gurgel currently ranks 57th in the nation in kills per set with 3.91. As a team, the Bulls remain fifth in the country in blocks, averaging 2.9 per set.
Scouting Louisville
Louisville went a perfect 2-0 this week, picking up victories over Syracuse and Marquette. The Cardinals only dropped one set in their two wins.
Freshman Lola Arslanbekova continues to lead the Louisville offense. The rookie led the BIG EAST with 6.29 kills per set and 6.79 points per game last week. Senior Lecia Brown was strong at the net, hitting .429 while racking up nine blocks.
The Series History with the Cardinals
The match against Louisville will mark the 26th meeting between the teams. Louisville leads the series, 19-6, with the Bulls last victory against the Cardinals coming in the C-USA Tournament in 2002.
Scouting Cincinnati
Cincinnati extended its home winning streak to 25 consecutive matches with a three-set win over Marquette on Oct. 31 and a four-set win over Syracuse on Nov. 1. The previous record for consecutive home wins was 23 matches from Nov. 17, 2002 to Oct. 24, 2004.
Junior Annie Fesl had a great week for the Bearcats, leading the team to wins over Wright State, Marquette and Louisville. Fesl distributed 48 assists against Syracuse and helped four different players accumulate double-digit kills. Fesl has quarterbacked the Bearcats to a team hitting percentage over .250 in five of UC's last six matches, and during that span, Fesl has averaged 10.90 assists per set and 2.40 digs per set.
With wins over Syracuse and Marquette, Cincinnati has won six matches in a row and 21 of its last 22 conference matches.
The Series History with the Bearcats
The match against Cincinnati will mark the 18th meeting between the teams. USF leads the series, 9-8, with the Bulls falling to the Bearcats in their last five meetings.
Louisville and Cincinnati Live Chat and Twitter Updates
GoUSFBulls.com will carry the matches live on BullsVision and will also host a live chat during the match from press row. Please check out GoUSFBulls.com to join in. USF will also post updates on Twitter during the match against the Cardinals and Bearcats under @usfvolleyball.
Promotions
Come on out for Rowdy Crowd Night on Friday! The loudest, rowdiest student group will walk out of the Sun Dome Corral with a $200 gift certificate to Beef 'O' Brady's on Tuesday, November 10th! Get your friends together and register today by e-mailing USF Sports Marketing at Athmkt01@admin.usf.edu. We will also be collecting non-perishable food items to donate to Metropolitan Ministries' Box of Hope. More information on this charity can be found by visiting http://www.metromin.org/.
Courtesy: USF
