Houston Falls to C-USA Powerhouse South Florida 3-0

Oct. 25, 2002

HOUSTON - The University of Houston volleyball team fell to South Florida 3-0 at Hofheinz Pavilion tonight in a Conference USA match-up. South Florida, who is undefeated in C-USA play in 2002, outhit and outblocked the Cougars to a 30-19, 30-26 and 30-20 victory.

Syracuse transfer Laura Koster led all hitters with 15 kills and three digs on the night. Two-time 2002 Conference USA Player of the Week Jenny Tanneberger added 13 kills and nine digs, while setter Donna Sellen, added 27 assists, nine digs and three kills. Libero Jaci Gonzalez led the Cougar defense with 12 digs. The Cougars hit .107 as a squad and posted only 33 assists in the C-USA loss.

Houston tied game one at five and kept the score within two points until South Florida's Bonnye Glover served four straight to a 12-8 Bull lead. The Cougars battled back to 25-18 but could not convert on a five-point Bull run and finished at 30-19.

Game two opened with four long volleys and three lead changes. Houston took a 10-9 lead behind two Koster kills but South Florida answered with four straight and led 14-12. The Cougar blocking game stepped up and brought the score to 24-23, but South Florida's hitting brigade proved to be too much. Houston eventually fell in game two 30-26.

The Cougars jumped out to a 7-1 lead in game three until Ale Domingos served six straight with South Florida eventually taking the lead 13-10. A tired Houston squad battled back but could not convert. Houston was outhit .342 to .024 by the Bulls in the 30-20 game three loss.

South Florida head coach Nancy Mueller, a former assistant coach under Bill Walton at Houston, has led the Bulls (20-5, 7-0 C-USA) to four straight wins over Houston. The Cougars (13-7, 3-2 C-USA), who are competing with only seven healthy players, lead the all-time series against South Florida 8-6.

The Cougars will wrap up their home stand against UAB tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at Hofheinz Pavilion.

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