The Fletch Report: December 4th, 2023

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Welcome back to a brand new edition of The Fletch Report, your go-to weekly newsletter dedicated to bringing you the latest on University of South Florida's Olympic Sports. In this concise and informative newsletter, we'll dive into the highlights of the previous week's athletic events and matches, while also offering a glimpse of what's on the horizon.

USF Weekly Honors

Conference Honors were announced for volleyball this past week:

• Buse Hazan and Maria Clara Andrade were named to First-Team All-Conference
• Caroline Dykes was named to Second-Team All-Conference

USF Women’s Basketball: School’d the Bucs

Education Day Bonanza: USF women’s basketball welcomed Charleston Southern to the Yuengling Center this past Thursday in front of a raucous 9,500+ in attendance for the annual Education Day game, where the Bulls were victorious 81-35.

Leading 19-10 at the end of the first quarter, the Bulls turned up the heat in the 2nd to take a commanding lead going into halftime. Maria Alvarez sparked the scoring by hitting four out of the five 3s that USF scored in the first 3 minutes of the 2nd quarter.

Evelien Lutje Schipholt took command of the game for the injured Emma Johannson, and netted her first double-double in a USF uniform with 17 points and 11 rebounds on the game. Maria was right behind her with 16 points, followed by Carla Brito with 14 points.

USF out rebounded Charleston Souther 52-36, helping gain 22 second chance points. The Bulls got great work out of two young guards in Vittoria Blasigh and Marina Asensio, who combined for 5 assists each in extensive action. Importantly, USF went 14-16 from the charity stripe to take full command of the game.

Look Ahead: Continuing with the extensive break we are seeing with the basketball programs, USF will return to action on December 10th against Gardner Webb at 1 p.m. at the Yuengling Center for Dog Rescue Awareness day.

USF Men’s Basketball: Back to Ice Cold

Scoring Slump: USF basketball traveled up to Hofstra in Hempstead, New York for their first road trip of the season in the greater New England Area. Hofstra, being a trendy NCAA tourney pick in the Coastal Athletic Conference dismantled USF on Thursday 82-63.

The Pride took a 44-23 lead going into halftime lead by the Nation’s leading scorer, USF on the other hand was woefully looking for any sort of offensive consistency. Jayden Reid and Selton Miguel went for a team high 10 points a piece, as USF came alive for a bit in the second half by outscoring Hofstra 40-38 in the second frame.

Hofstra shot 50% from 3 to help carry them to victory, despite the Bulls having the advantage in the paint 26-20.

Scoring Slump Again: Following a disappointing first half performance against Hofstra, USF trailed to Amherst to take on UMass in an attempt to right the ship and get some offensive consistency.

That did not happen, as the Bulls fell 66-56 to drop to 2-4 on the year with their tail’s between their legs.

Selton Miguel lead the Bulls for the second straight game, collecting 16 points, but no other Bull found double figure scoring. There were various multi-minute spurts where neither team (but more importantly, USF here) did not make a FG as both teams combined to shoot 68 free throws. The Bulls held a FT% margin with 77% (21-27) compared to the Minutemen’s 63% (26-41).

Look Ahead: USF will face one of their toughest non-conference tests of the season as they travel to Sunrise, FL for a neutral site match up against FSU in the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic on December 9th at 1:30 pm.

USF Volleyball: Survive and Advance

Battle of the Bulls: After a historic turnaround season, USF women’s volleyball got an invite to compete in the NIVC and their opening round game against Buffalo took place in Queens, NY. USF swept Buffalo 3-0 to move onto the second round of the tournament.

The first set was a battle, with USF edging out Buffalo 25-23 with the help of Buse Hazan getting 10 kills on the Match. A kill by Niki Khoshatefeh gave USF the first set victory, to go along with her 7 kills.

The second set wasn’t as close, with USF winning 25-19 lead by Maria Clara Andrade collecting the set-clinching Kill, part of her 9 kill 2 ace performance against Buffalo.

The Third set was a blow out in favor of USF, winning 25-14 to clinch the match 3-0 and move into the next round to take on the hosts, St. John’s.

Call it a Comeback: USF took on St. John’s on Saturday evening in the round of 16 matchup for the NIVC. The Bulls mounted a comeback after being down 2 sets to nothing to win 3-2 to move into the Elite Eight.

The Johnnies took a 2-0 lead after taking the first set 23-25 and 19-25 in the second. Things looked bleak in the 3rd as the Bulls could not overtake the Red Storm until the score was tied 18-18. From there, Maria Andre Clara took over as a part of her career high 27 kills to help USF take the lead in the 3rd and close out the 3rd set 25-19.

The 4th set turned into a battle, and with the score at 24-25 in favor of St John’s, USF turned it up and scored 3 straight to win 27-25 to force a pivotal fifth set.

The fifth set was as close as you could imagine, but the Bulls pulled it out with the match tied 14 all by winning 16-14, clinching a spot in the Great 8.

Caroline Dykes continues to be an assist hero for the Bulls, as she went for an uncanny and career high 60 assists on the match. Buse Hazan one for 17 kills and 10 digs for a double-double, her 8th of the season.

Look Ahead: USF will take on Georgia Southern in Statesboro in the Great 8 match on December 7th at 6 p.m.