UTSA volleyball defeated University of South Florida 3-2 on Sunday at the Convocation Center.
The Roadrunners’ (8-15, 2-8 AAC) strong defense drove them to a hard-fought five-set victory. UTSA narrowly won the first set with a two-point victory. After losing the second set, the ‘Runners came back and stole the third set. The Bulls (12-9, 8-2 AAC) pushed the game into a fifth set; UTSA held them at a 6-0 lead in set five and won the game 25-23, 25-10, 25-19, 25-21, 15-7.
“We can’t control who shows up and who doesn’t; we can’t control what refs we get,” coach Carol Price-Torok said. “We just have to make sure we are doing what we need to do. Today, after that second set, we very easily could have been like, ‘Oh well, they are better than us,’ but we made some adjustments, people stepped up and they continued to grind. We have been preaching that all year; just stay the course, trust each other and believe. We got one against a really good team today.”
UTSA trailed behind South Florida in the middle of the first set. The Bulls took a six point lead but the ‘Runners made a comeback.
Sophomore libero Peyton Turner served for the second time. South Florida received the ball and set middle blocker Imani Hartfield up for the kill, but senior middle blocker Alicia Coppedge read the play and blocked the kill.
The Bulls took the ball back, but were out of formation. A back-and-forth at the net between Hartfield and Coppedge gave the ball to the Roadrunners. Freshman outside hitter Martina Franco saved the ball and junior outside hitter Caroline Krueger went for the kill. The ball was dug up by South Florida. The Bulls went for another attack, outside hitter Ally Cavanaugh tapped the ball over UTSA’s block.
Junior opposite hitter Mia Soerensen dug the ball and sent it to freshman setter Morgen Durgens. Durgens set the ball for Krueger; she found a hole in South Florida’s defense and took advantage of it. Krueger took a shot for the middle of the court, she got the point for the Roadrunners and tied the score 21-21.
The second set, the Bulls rammed through the UTSA defense and went on an eight point run. The ‘Runners could not stop South Florida and lost the set.
UTSA did not let the second set discourage them, the Roadrunners blocked many of South Florida’s attacks and stopped them from going on long runs. The Bulls took a quick lead in the third set, but the ‘Runners closed the gap and took the lead to win the set.
UTSA went on a 6-0 run at the beginning of the fifth set. South Florida setter Tatiana Johnson served; Krueger received the ball and sent it to Durgens. Durgens found sophomore middle blocker Kai Bailey and set for her. The Bulls went to block Bailey but she attacked through their block and got the kill.
Coppedge broke the school record for individual blocks in a game with 13. The previous record was held by current sophomore middle hitter Miranda Putnicki who had 12 against The University of Memphis last season. UTSA also broke the record for team blocks in a game with 23.
“Communication between me and the pins was amazing,” Coppedge said. “I really think the pins came in and they stepped up and helped me. The whole time I didn’t think there was going to be a time where I was going to be up alone. It really helped with my confidence.”
Hartfield and Bailey were fifth and sixth in the AAC for hitting percentage. With the win, Bailey has moved up to fifth with .337 and Hartfield has dropped to sixth with .330.
UTSA will play Tulane University at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse.
