No. 9 Spartans Earn Third Place In The Premier After Strong Finish

DENVER - The No. 9 University of Tampa Spartans volleyball team (6-1) split the final day of the Colorado Premier Challenge losing to No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul (8-0), but bounced back to beat south regional rival No. 15 West Florida (4-5) to take third place in the tournament that featured nine ranked teams. The Spartans also placed two players on the all-tournament team, with freshman Jessica Yingling and junior Meghan Sherman getting the nods.

Tampa opened the day with the daunting task of handing No. 1 Concordia its first loss on the season. At first it would look as if the Golden Bears would win with ease as they took the first two sets by scores of 25-18 and 25-17. The Spartans struggled, maintaining the lead only one time and committing a flurry of service errors. However, the young team would bounce back in the third set, withstanding the Concordia attack to rack up 20 digs and three blocks to win 25-21 and force a fourth set. After leading for most of fourth frame and up 21-19, CU went on a 3-0 run to regain the lead, and edged out UT 25-21 to take the match.

Melissa Vanderhall led all Spartans with 15 kills and a .406 mark. She was followed by Kaleigh Cunningham with 12 kills and Camille Hanks with 10. They were the only Spartans with double-digit kills, although Yingling barely missed another double-double with eight kills and nine digs.

UT was outhit in the contest .304-.237, as Concordia had four players reach at least 10 kills, including Emily Palkert who finished with 18 on a blazing .424.

The Spartans did finish with the advantage in blocks, six to four, including two by freshman Danielle Selkridge who also converted four of five in kills. Sophomore Julie Howlett ended with a team-high 12 digs, while Sherman registered 10 and added 48 assists.

The loss knocked Tampa to the third place game in which it faced its first regional opponent on the early season. The first two sets against West Florida were close games featuring a combined 11 lead changes and 20 tie scores. The Spartans won both though by scores of 25-23 and 25-18, then held the lead throughout in the final set winning 25-19 to seal the victory.

No Spartan recorded double-digit kills but six players had at last three with Yingling earning a team-high nine. Junior Sam Macks connected on five of nine with no errors and Hanks had seven kills on a .312 clip. Hanks also notched two solo blocks and had a hand in three more to help the Spartans put up 11 stops.

Both teams finished the match with 45 digs, as Vanderhall and Cunningham each scooped up 11. Sherman had seven of her own, and assisted in 31 of the Spartans' 35 kills. She also tallied 11.77 assists per-game in the tournament, which was second only to Concordia's Maggie McNamara who earned MVP honors.

Tampa goes back on the road next weekend to Pensacola, Fla. for three games at the South Region Crossover hosted by West Florida. The Spartans will face West Alabama first next Friday at 9 a.m. Fans may follow University of Tampa athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/utspartans) and Facebook. UT also offers eScores, which is a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events.