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November 21, 2014

No. 1 Spartans Ignite Offense with 3-0 Sweep of Valdosta State

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TAMPA, Fla. - The No. 1 ranked University of Tampa Spartans volleyball team (30-1) swept the visiting Valdosta State Blazers (25-8) in the NCAA South Region Semi-Final game, Friday night.

The victory propelled the Spartans to their sixth-straight NCAA South Region Championship, which will be played Saturday evening against No. 19 Palm Beach Atlantic.

Valdosta State took the first point in the match, but the No. 1 Spartans quickly rebounded, igniting their top-ranked offense and propelling Tampa to a 25-14 first set victory. Junior Megan Heffron led the attack in the first set, rallying for 6 kills at a .556 clip, while the team earned a .583 attack percentage. Defensively, it was junior All-American Berkley Whaley who earned the most digs, with five.

The visiting Blazers again took the first point in the second game of the day, but Tampa's offense soon took control. Seniors Meagan Burke and Kahley Patrick, along with junior Marissa Lisenbee, all maintained perfect 1.000 attack averages in the effort, while the Spartans governed the scoreboard at a .529 clip, earning a 25-16 set victory.

The Spartans jumpstarted the third set of the evening with a 4-0 run before allowing Valdosta State any room on the scoreboard. With the score and momentum in their favor, the Spartans fired on all cylinders, earning a 25-10 set win and earning a trip to the NCAA South Region Championship.

Offensively, junior Megan Heffron led the Spartans with 12 kills on the evening, a performance that Berkley Whaley followed up with ten of her own. Juniors Jessica Wagner and Marissa Lisenbee each recorded .615 attack percentages in the victory, tallying nine and eight kills, respectively. Burke, who finished the game with a team-leading .875 attack average, also recorded seven kills in the effort.

The guiding force behind the Spartans' offense was senior Kahley Patrick, who recorded 44 assists in the triumph for 14.6 assists per set. She also recorded four kills and four kills on the night.

Whaley blazed the way for Tampa defensively, registering four blocks and leading the Spartans from the back row with 18 digs.

As a team, No. 1 Tampa earned a .536 attack average in the victory, a number that ranks third in the University of Tampa all-time record books. In addition, the performance marks the highest attack average in an NCAA post-season match for the Spartans.

Tampa will continue NCAA Division II South Region play again tomorrow, when they take on No. 19 Palm Beach Atlantic University in the NCAA Division II South Region Championship. The match is slated for 7:00 p.m.

Live stats will be made available through www.tampaspartans.com.

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