Volleyball Opens The Season With Two Losses At Hampton Inn-vitational Hosted By West Florida

Pensacola, Fla.-The University of Bridgeport women's volleyball team opened the 2015 season with a pair of matches in the Hampton Inn-vitational hosted by the University of West Florida on Friday.  In its morning match, the Purple Knights opened their campaign with a straight sets loss to # 21 Arkansas Ft. Smith, an NCAA Division II Final Four team in 2014, 24-26, 19-25, 13-25.  In UB's final match on opening day, the team again lost in straight sets falling to St. Leo, 13-25, 20-25, 16-25

Against Arkansas Ft. Smith, senior Sarah Rosa (Itajuba, Brazil) led the team with eight kills and had 12 digs.  Newcomer Katarina Krstonosic (Kikinda, Serbia) had a team-high 15 digs and chipped in seven kills.  Senior libero Martina Santia (Seeze, Italy) also reached double-digit digs with 12, and freshman setter Ellie Rich (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) had 18 assists.

In a see-saw first set that saw eight ties and three lead changes, the Purple Knights held leads of 10-18 and 24-23 before the Lions scored the final three points of the opening stanza and never looked back, as they went on to sweep the match.

Sarah Rosa again led the team in kills versus St. Leo with 10, and she fell just shy of a double-double with a team-best nine digs.  Setter Ellie Rich had 22 assists and seven digs in the day's second match.

The UB women's volleyball team will wrap up play at the Hampton Inn-vitational hosted by the University of West Florida on Saturday with matches against Missouri-St. Louis and the host Argos.