Charlotte Falls Quick to South Florida

CHARLOTTE – In a tough fought 4 set match, Charlotte Volleyball got here up brief to the primary place South Florida Bulls, who improved to a 9-1 report in American Conference play. With the loss, Charlotte falls to 6-4 in convention play and 15-7 total.

COACH’S CORNER

“It was nice to see some of our young players come in and execute off the bench,” stated Head Coach Benavia Jenkins. “Milena Lopez and Azavia Thomas both received extended playing time and provided that necessary spark for us. They showed great confidence and battled throughout the match. South Florida is a great team, and we showed fight against them. We went with a 6-2 to try new things. We knew we had to serve them more aggressively this time and that allowed us to better compete.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

Following a troublesome loss to East Carolina, Charlotte got here out flat within the first set offensively, hitting simply .033 as a workforce with seven attacking errors. Maria Clara Andrade led the way in which for the Bulls with 5 kills whereas Iyanna Garvin assisted on all 5 South Florida blocks, as USF cruised to a 25-15 first set win.

Set two noticed 9 ties and 5 lead adjustments in a extra aggressive set between the 2 groups. With the 6-2 formation, Milena Lopez noticed her most enjoying time of the season this afternoon, shelling out 18 assists with 5 of them coming within the second set. Jessica Ricks tallied a workforce excessive 4 kills within the set to maintain Charlotte inside placing distance at 21-20. The Bulls had been in a position to regroup, ending the set with 4 straight kills to win 25-21, going up two units to none.

Charlotte’s offense improved dramatically within the third set, ending with their greatest share of .364 for the match. Jaylen Jordan offered an all-around effort with 4 kills and 6 digs to guide the Niners in each classes. In the late phases, Charlotte led 19-14 over South Florida prompting a timeout. The Bulls answered again with a 6-2 scoring run to shut the deficit to 21-20. Four completely different Niners in Thomas, Ricks, Kristen Birmingham, and Sofia Locadia, all picked up kills to propel Charlotte to win 25-21.

In the match, South Florida out blocked Charlotte 14 to 5 within the match headlined by Garvin’s seven block assists and Imani Hartfield’s solo block and 5 block assists. Hartfield picked up three of her block assists within the fourth set. However, Charlotte continued to combat and present resilience. Nearing the media timeout, the Niners had a 14-11 benefit over the Bulls till USF acquired back-to-back kills from Andrade, who completed the set with 5. That momentum capped off an 8-2 run to present South Florida the lead 19-16.

Three kills from Birmingham and a solo block helped get Charlotte to inside one level at 22-21. Another kill from Andrade and attacking errors from Ricks and Jordan clinched the match win for South Florida, 25 to 21.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Annika Thompson, who was named to the American Conference Honorable Mention List final week after main the convention with 5.29 digs per set over the weekend, tied for the workforce lead with Jaylen Jordan totaling 14 digs. This season, Thompson is fourth within the NCAA, averaging 5.26 digs per set.

Azavia Thomas set a profession excessive with 11 kills on an environment friendly .348 hitting share. Jessica Ricks and Kisten Birmingham additionally completed with double digit kills, tallying 10 every.

NEXT UP

Charlotte will journey to Philadelphia to tackle the Temple Owls on Friday (Oct. 31) earlier than returning to Halton Arena on Sunday (Nov. 2) to host Rice, who’s tied with South Florida for first place within the American.