Volleyball Topples Bulls 3-1
Oct. 21, 2002
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – – The University of Miami volleyball team (18-2) got back to its winning ways with a 3-1 victory over visiting South Florida (19-5) Monday night at the Knight Sports Complex.
The Hurricanes earned the crucial victory coming off the heels of an upset loss to FIU last Wednesday.
Miami took the first two games 30-27 and 30-25, respectively, before conceding the third 32-30. Miami won the match with its game four victory, 30-28.
According to coach Nicole Lantagne Welch, the victory over the Bulls may be the Hurricanes’ most impressive this season. “I think it is (the biggest win of the season so far),” she said. “Actually, I think it is. South Florida is undefeated in their conference (Conference USA). They’re ranked first in their region. They’ve been to the NCAA tournament. They’re a very great team with an exceptional player (Michelle Collier) on it. That was a huge huge win for us to pull out.”
The win was also significant in terms of the season as a whole. Last week, Miami lost to cross-town rival FIU in five games and needed to rebound with the meat of its conference schedule in the balance.
“It was very important for us (bounce back), because we had to rebound and play our game of volleyball,” Lantagne Welch said. “We did a nice job of bouncing back and playing steady and taking it to an excellent team.”
While much of the Bulls’ overall game ran through outside hitter Michelle Collier, who led with a match-high 30 kills and 16 digs, the Hurricanes benefited from presenting South Florida with several different weapons.
“I think we got a really nice, balanced attack tonight where we had a lot of people contribute,” the coach said. “I think our distribution of sets was excellent in terms of getting it to a lot of different people and it wasn’t just all the one person.”
Sophomore outside hitter Biz Tyson (Jacksonville, Fla.) had perhaps her best match of the season, tying teammate Valeria Tipiana (Lima, Peru) to lead the team in kills with 17 apiece. Tyson also logged a match high .441 hitting percentage.
Senior outside hitter Marcela Gamarra (Medellin, Colombia) followed with 15 kills and freshman middle blocker Karla Johnson (Houston, Texas) had 10.
The Hurricanes will embark on a two-match road campaign Saturday starting in Blacksburg, Va., where they will face the Virginia Tech Hokies at 7 p.m. Then on Tuesday, UM will play regional rival Florida Atlantic at 7 p.m. in Boca Raton.
For more information on University of Miami athletics log on to its website www.hurricanesports.com, the official site for all Hurricane news, tickets and apparel. For Hurricane ticket information call 1-800-GO CANES.
