After a disappointing semifinal loss to eventual National Champion Grand Valley State last season, the University of Tampa volleyball returned to the Elite Eight on Thursday with a chance to advance to the Final Four for the second straight year.
The Spartans faced an experienced Dowling (N.Y.) team who made an uncharacteristic number of mistakes in the match. The Golden Lions had to come from behind for much of the day, never leading in the match.
Golden Lions middle blocker Nikki Armstrong thought that her team was in the match the whole way, but when they made their runs they were unable to change the momentum of the game.
UT took advantage of four Dowling attack errors as well as four service errors as they won the first game 30-23. Alisha Green led the offensive attack for UT with five kills in six chances. Tarah Marinelli hit just .135 in the game but finished with four kills. Gabriela Saade assisted on all 17 kills for UT.
Tampa coach Chris Catanach thought Saade connected well with Alisha Green and the rest of the Tampa hitters in the match.
“Our first contacts were not as crisp as they could have been,” Catanach said. “Gabby did a good job setting everyone up even when we didn’t get her the ball in perfect position.”
The second game had a similar beginning as UT jumped out to a quick start. After a long rally that ended in a Katelen Dixon spike on an overpass, UT took a commanding 10-4 lead. Dowling closed the deficit once again but the early lead was too much to overcome. UT went on to win the game 30-27, taking a 2-0 lead in the match. Green and Marinelli had two and three kills respectively. Danielle MacDonald had a team-high five kills in the game.
UT went on to win the third and final game 30-27, sweeping the match three games to zero. Tampa had a balanced game as five Spartans recorded nine or more kills. MacDonald led UT with a match-high 13 kills.
The Spartans return to action tomorrow at 4 p.m. when they will take on Minnesota Deluth
Coach Catanach expects another tough match. “I was really impressed with the two teams [Minnesota Deluth and Cal-San Diego] when they played earlier today. Minnesota Deluth will be a tough team to defend.