Spartans Ground Eagles in Four Sets

INDIANAPOLIS – The No. 16 University of Tampa volleyball team closed out the UIndy Volleyball Invitational with a 3-1 victory over Ashland University on Saturday at the Athletic Recreation Center.

The Spartans conclude the tournament 3-0 and improve their overall record to 5-2 while the Eagles dip to 5-3 on the season.

Sophomore Alexandra Misca sparked the Tampa attack, posting a career-best 11 kills at a scorching .556 attack percentage. The middle blocker totaled six blocks and four digs on defense.

Outside hitters Allee Stelogeannis and Katie McKiel added 13 and 11 kills, respectively as the latter notched four blocks on defense.

Libero Logan Holanchock and outside hitter Nicole Dominguez combined for 37 digs, totaling 24 and 13 respectively to help limit the Eagles to a team attack percentage of .066.

The setting tandem of Jen Aprile and Sammy Mueller tuned the Spartan offense with 19 and 18 assists, respectively.

Tampa's offense was running on all cylinders in the opening set, as the squad hit .483 as a team.  Freshman McKiel blasted six kills in the opening frame at a strong .455 attack clip to lead the offense.

Ashland bounced back in the second frame by a 25-23 score to even the match. Misca totaled three kills, two blocks and an ace while Holanchock held tempo defensively with nine digs in the second set alone.  The Eagles relied on Ali Cudworth for offense as the outside hitter reached five kills through two sets.

Misca rolled through the Eagles in the third as UT took the set by a score of 25-18.  The middle blocker reached double-digit kills while notching five blocks through three sets of action.  Holanchock and Dominguez continued to stifle the Ashland attack as the duo combined for seven digs in the frame.

The Spartans closed out the match with a 25-19 fourth stanza to end the tournament 3-0 in Indianapolis.

UT will begin Sunshine State Conference play on the road, meeting Eckerd College on Friday, Sept. 16 for a 7 p.m. start time. Links to live stats as well as a live video webcast will be provided via www.tampaspartans.com.

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