To the victors go the honors as top-seeded USF volleyball opens AAC Tournament
Having secured the American Athletic Conference regular-season championship and the top seed in the conference, the USF volleyball team begins its quest today to secure an NCAA bid by winning the tournament.
The Bulls face 8th-seeded UAB in the opening round at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
This was USF’s first regular-season title since 2002. Head coach Jolene Shepardson was a player on that team. She was brought in as head coach in 2020 to revive a program that had fallen on hard times. She methodically brought improvement, guiding her team through COVID-19 difficulties and roster building before taking a big jump in 2023.
In that year, the Bulls advanced to the Final Four of the National Invitational Volleyball Championships. That set the stage for this year.
Even that didn’t start well, however. USF lost its three matches — two against ranked opponents Florida State and Georgia — before breaking through with a win at 10th-ranked Florida. They followed that with a win over Ohio State, then went 14-2 in the AAC and 18-9 overall.
For that, Shepardson was named the AAC Coach of the Year. USF’ Maria Clara Andrade was named Player of the Year and Caroline Dykes earned Setter of the Year honors.
Also, senior Naiya Sawtelle was named first-team all-conference. Sophomore Lia Schneider was chosen second-team all-conference.
The stage is set for something big.
"I appreciate Michael Kelly (USF vice president for athletics) believing in me,'' Shepardson said. "He said he saw the confidence. I think the only way I was able to be resilient was to look at myself in the mirror and say, 'Hey, why am I here?' It was to inspire these young women through the hard (times). But it was a gut check.
"We have gone through the hard, mostly behind the scenes, and it has been so rewarding to see these young women be resilient to fight for their dreams and what they want to accomplish here. It's been a lot of work — and we're still a work in progress — but my heart is very elated to accomplish this (championship).''