Freshman lead Bulls in regular season finale
MATCHUP: USF at UCF
WHEN: Friday, March 26 at 7 p.m.
TWITTER UPDATES: @USFVolleyball
TAMPA, MARCH 25, 2021 – The USF women’s volleyball team will wrap up the regular season with a pair of War on I-4 weekend matches vs. UCF in Orlando.
The Knights enter the weekend leading the American Athletic Conference and riding a four-game win streak, while the Bulls split a pair of matches vs. Tulane in The Corral.
Both matches will be streamed live on ESPN+.
OPPONENT
The defending AAC Tournament Champion, UCF received 15 votes in this week’s AVCA Coaches Poll and enters the final weekend of conference play sporting a 12-1 overall record and a perfect 6-0 mark in the East Division, winners of four straight contests overall.
The Knights are among the top 20 teams in the country with a .958 winning percentage as of March 24. UCF also ranked sixth in the country in blocks per set (2.92), 15th in aces per set (1.98) and 27th in opposing hitting percentage (.146) as of the March 24 NCAA statistics report.
The Knight’s Nerissa Moravec leads the ACC hitting .401 while McKenna Melville leads the conference with 4.69 kills per set.
THE BULLS
The Bulls swept Tulane, 3-0, in the first match of the series in The Corral before falling, 3-1, in the rematch.
Freshman Marta Cvitkovic (Rijeka, Croatia) has established herself as the Bulls’ top offensive weapon. She enters the weekend ranked third in the AAC in kills (3.75 per set) and is second in the conference in service aces (0.40 per set). She has five double-doubles on the year (all kills & digs).
Freshman Makayla Washington (Tallahassee) led the Bulls with 13 kills in their first match vs. Tulane, which followed a career-best 20 kills on a .417 hitting percentage vs. Cincinnati. She has posted double-digit kills in three straight matches and ranks second on the team in kills (139) and blocks (34).
Setter Masha Idjilov (Chisinau, Moldova) has posted five double-doubles on the season and ranks sixth in the conference posting 8.62 assists per set.
THE SERIES
USF leads the all-time series, 49-37, but UCF has won 14 straight meetings dating to both programs entering The American in 2013. The Bulls last win came 3-2 in 2012 in Tampa.
ESPN+
The American Athletic Conference and ESPN began a new 12-year television rights agreement starting in 2020-21. USF will stream numerous home athletic events to ESPN+ this spring. Subscriptions for the ESPN+ app are $5.99 monthly or $59.99 annually and can be packaged with Hulu and Disney+ streaming services. A step-by-step guide for subscribing to ESPN+ is located here.
About USF Women’s Volleyball
Head coach Jolene Shepardson begins her first season at the helm of her alma mater in 2020-21. Named head coach on Jan. 8, 2020, Shepardson led the Bulls’ program to its last conference championship and NCAA tournament appearance as a student-athlete in 2002. USF made its last postseason appearance in 2018, posting 20 wins and appearing in the NIVC. USF Volleyball has made seven NCAA Tournament appearances and won 12 conference titles since its inception in 1972 and is entering its 49th campaign in 2020-21. The Bulls play in The Corral (1,000), adjacent to the Yuengling Center on the USF campus.
Be sure to follow USF women’s volleyball on social media (Twitter/Instagram/Facebook) and visit GoUSFBulls.com for the most up-to-date information.
– #GoBulls –
