SMU Volleyball Defeats USF
TAMPA, Fla. (SMU) – The SMU volleyball team won its seventh straight match, defeating USF 3-1 (23-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-23) Sunday afternoon in the Corral Gymnasium. Abbey Bybel led the Mustangs with 15 kills as SMU improved to 17-3 overall and 7-1 in the American Athletic Conference.
SMU ended the match, coming back for a 25-23 win in the fourth set. The Bulls (6-14, 3-5 The American) took a 6-1 lead to start the fourth set. The lead was still five, 15-10, when SMU went on an 8-2 run to take its first lead of the set, 18-17. With the score tied at 22-22, the Mustangs scored three of the last four points for the win.
Katie Hegarty scored 11 kills, and Janelle Giordano hit .500 for the second straight match, scoring nine kills with just one error. The junior also had four of SMU’s seven blocks. Cailin Bula and Kristen Stehling each added seven kills. Avery Acker posted her 13th double-double of the season and fourth in the last five matches, recording 48 assists with 17 digs. Morgan Heise had a match-high 28 digs. SMU hit .278 as a team, with 58 kills, and USF hit .241 with 60 kills.
The Mustangs took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-22 victory in the third. SMU took
an 11-5 lead to start the set, but the Bulls battled all the way back, tying the score, 13-13. SMU scored the next three points, but USF erased the deficit again. With the scored tied at 19-19, the Mustangs took another three-point lead, 22-19. This time, SMU kept the advantage, with Giordano recording her third block of the set to give SMU its 25th point.
SMU scored two straight to take a 22-21 lead in the first set, but USF went on a 4-1 run to take the set 25-23. Neither team led by more than three points, with the Bulls holding a 13-10 advantage, but SMU scored four unanswered to take a 14-13 lead in the set that had 17 ties and eight lead changes. SMU hit .308 with 15 kills, four by Bybel, but USF had 19 kills with a .425 attack percentage.
The Mustangs won the second set 25-17 to tie the match, one set to one, holding the Bulls to a .129 attack percentage, while hitting .387 with 16 kills. Bula led the Mustangs with four kills in the set. SMU erased a 4-1 deficit, taking its first lead at 8-7. SMU didn’t trail the rest of the set, pushing the lead to three, 10-7. The Bulls cut the lead to one, 15-14, after scoring three straight, but the Mustangs rallied for a 10-3 run to end the set and even the match.
SMU returns home to face Cincinnati Friday at 7 p.m., and hosts Memphis Sunday at 1 p.m.
