TAMPA, Fla. – In a top-10 Saturday match-up and rematch of the NCAA South Regional from the previous year, the ninth-ranked Barry women's volleyball team fell to the third-ranked Spartans of Tampa in five sets in the Martinez Center in Sunshine State Conference action.
Final: #3 Tampa 3, #9 Barry 2
Records: Barry (11-4, 6-2 SSC), Tampa (16-1, 8-0 SSC)
All-Time Series: Tampa leads series 64-23
- Set One – Two straight attacking errors opened the match for Tampa, in which Barry took a 2-0 lead. The Bucs tacked on five straight with two kills from Varvara Osychenko, and kills from Layla Pelly and Valeriya Kozlova to give them a 9-5 advantage. Tampa slowly chipped away and then flipped the scoreboard. A late run got the Bucs within two but that was all. Osychenko led the way with four kills on seven swings. Barry hit .167 with 11 kills and six attack errors. | Tampa 25, Barry 22
- Set Two – Barry grabbed the first point in the set with Kozlova getting the kill. The Spartans tried gaining some space with three-straight, it was quickly countered with six straight from the Bucs. Osychenko had three kills in the run, with Frankie Good getting a solo block and Kozlova collecting an ace. Barry used multiple four point runs to keep their advantage and Veronika Eremeeva closed the door to take the set to even the match. Eremeeva had six kills on the set on eight swings not making a single error, hitting .750. | Barry 25, Tampa 23
- Set Three – Heading into the set, Barry carried the momentum scoring off the bbat three straight. Sarah Willey collected a service ace. Tampa attempted a late run but was too late. Kozlova and Good teamed up to put the set away with three kills in the final four points. Eremeeva did a heavy lift again with six kills. The Bucs had 15 kills and hit .289. | Barry 25, Tampa 20
- Set Four – Trying to bring home another top-10 victory, Barry kept it close early, but a five-point stretch at 7-14 had them in a hole. Back-to-back blocks from Ivana Žujovic had Barry back in it down just one at 20-21. Kozlova and Eremeeva team up for two straight kills to tie it up at 23-all. But a service error and kill by Tampa had this match going to five. | Tampa 25, Barry 23
- Set Five – Both teams went tit-for-tat in the first six points; Tampa grabbed a two-point tilt on the board and that advantage held through. Both teams battled it out offensively hitting over .400 in the set. | Tampa 15, Barry 13
- The triple threat of Osychenko, Eremeeva, and Kozlova carried the offensive load with a combined 53 of the 64 kills.
- Osychenko led with a season-high 19 kills, this is the most since her freshmen season on 11/14/2023 when she had 21.
- The senior surpassed 1,000 career kills, moving into 11th all-time in program history.
- Kozlova and Eremeeva each had 17 kills.
- Thalia Iglesias carried the setter roles with season-highs in 45 assists and four kills.
- On the weekend, Iglesias has moved into eighth all-time in assists sitting at 1881.
- Alondra Lebron handled the backrow and had a reception rate of .966 on 56 attempts; she faulted just two. She also had 15 digs to tie her career-high set just last night against Florida Southern.
- Lebron has set a new career-high for digs in a season at 120 and counting.
- Middles Zujovic, Good, and Pelly all had two-plus kills and had a hand on a block.
Barry will return home and start their second round of SSC action on Tuesday, October 13 against Nova Southeastern from the Health and Sports Center.
