MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – The Health and Sports Center has become a sacred place for the Buccaneer women' volleyball team who improve to 12-0 at home. Fans from all different sports and all different eras united at for the top-11 matchup. Barry took down second-ranked Tampa in four sets and handed them their first lost in Sunshine State play in two years.
Final: #11 Barry 3, #2 Tampa 1
Records: Barry (19-4, 14-2 SSC), Tampa (23-2, 15-1 SSC)
All-Time Series: Tampa leads series 64-24
- Set One – The HAC was rocking from the first point as Valeriya Kozlova got the party going early. Varvara Osychenko immediately followed with a service ace for the first two points of the match. Barry continued on for a 5-1 start as Veronika Eremeeva had three straight kills. The Bucs dominated the first set earning every single point with 20 kills, four service aces, and a block. The Bucs made just two attack errors and hit .621 in the set. Tampa had just seven kills and hit .240. | Barry 25, Tampa 14
- Set Two – In the second set, Tampa found a groove as they opened on a 9-2 run of their own. After falling behind 12-6, the Bucs went on a six-point run to tie the set up. Thalia Iglesias was to thank with three straight service aces. It was a battle back and forth late and Barry fended off two straight set points to notch it at 24-all. But Tampa strung together two-straight to tie up the match at one. UT hit .469 in the set compared to Barry's .344. | Tampa 26, Barry 24
- Set Three – Barry immediately fought back and used a five-point run to make it 9-5. Every time it seemed they gained space Tampa fought back. That was until the 17-15 mark, when Barry closed out the set on an 8-0 run. Kozlova and Ivana Žujovic closed it out with the big block. The offense hit .300 in the set while the defense neutralized the Spartans as they hit sub-.031. The Bucs had five blocks. | Barry 25, Tampa 15
- Set Four - In a battle where Tampa was trying to force a winner take all, and then the Bucs were trying to close the door, every point mattered. At 16-16, the switched flipped for the Buccaneers. In a game of runs, Barry had a 9-2 run to close out the match. Attack errors ultimately were the downfall for Tampa. Eremeeva had a near perfect set with seven kills on nine attempts, with no errors. The defense once again forced a sub-100 hitting average for the Spartans. | Barry 25, Tampa 18
- Kozlova had a season-high 24 kills. She hit .417 on the match with six digs, four service aces, and four blocks.
- Eremeeva followed with 15-kills, hitting .398, with two service aces, seven digs, and four blocks.
- Osychenko picked up another double-double with 10 kills, 1- digs and two service aces.
- Iglesias led the offense with her third 40-assist match of the season (46).
- She added four kills, three service aces and seven digs.
- Zujovic led with five blocks.
- Good had four kills and four blocks.
- The Bucs dominated the stat sheet, mainly 10-6 on aces and 10-4 on blocks.
- Barry has won the home matchup in two of the last three years against Tampa.
- Barry improves to 3-1 against ranked opponents.
Barry will host Florida Southern tomorrow afternoon for their final regular season home match and Senior Day.
