HOOVER, Ala. – The University of Tampa volleyball team kicked off the Gulf South/Sunshine State Conference Crossover with a victory over the University of West Georgia. The Spartans used a balanced offensive attack to defeat the Wolves in three straight sets. With the victory, UT improves to 12-6, while UWG falls to 11-8.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Tampa was the first team on the board, as Sorrel Houghton recorded a kill. The two teams battled back and forth early on, as the two were all squared up at eight points. UT would the go on to score the next 10 of 12 points to take a commanding 18-10 lead over UWG. Houghton would record the final point of the set as a kill gave the Spartans a 25-16 victory in set one.

The Wolves jumped on the board first, as Tierra White recorded back-to-back kills to open the set. The West Georgia lead was short lived, as Tampa took the lead at 6-5 following an attack error by the Wolves. UT was able to push their lead over UWG as they went up by eight at 19-11. Tampa would claim the victory in the set 25-14, as Houghton recorded a block to end the set.

UT would be the first team to score in the third set, as UWG was called for a ball handling error. The two teams would remain close as the teams were tied at 12. Much like the first set, the Spartans would go on a run, scoring the next seven of eight points to take a 19-13 lead. Katie McKiel would close out the set and match as she recorded the final kill of the game.

INSIDE THE STATS:

• Kamari Potter led the way for Tampa as she recorded 10 kills and swung at a .529 percentage.
• Katie McKiel also finished the game with 10 kills and added a team high 14 digs to record a double-double.
• Sammy Mueller dished out 22 assists and Melissa Elias added 14 assists on the day.
• Nicole Dominguez added 12 digs for the game.
• Sarah Luoma swung at a .600 percentage as she finished the game with eight kills.
• As a team, Tampa swung at a .362 percentage as the defense held West Georgia to a .103 percentage.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• The victory pushes the Tampa win streak to seven games.
• The Spartans have now won 22 straight matches in the GSC/SSC Crossover.
• Tampa improves to 7-0 all-time against West Georgia.

UP NEXT

The Spartans will wrap up the crossover with a pair of games tomorrow. The first game against Auburn-Montgomery is set to begin at 12:15 p.m. EST and the second game against Alabama-Huntsville is set for 8:00 p.m. EST.

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