Bridgeport Women's Volleyball Opens 2012 Season With A Pair Of Sweeps At AIC Invitational

Springfield, Mass.-The University of Bridgeport women's volleyball team opened its 2012 season in fine fashion on Saturday sweeping a pair of straight sets matches at the American International College Yellow Jacket Classic, defeating Felician, 25-10, 25-11, 25-19, and topping Concordia (N.Y.), 25-11, 25-17, 25-19.

In the season opener against Felician, three Purple Knights recorded double-figure kills led by sophomore Biljana Savic (Novi Sad, Serbia) with 15.  Joining Savic with double-digit kills were classmates Ying Shen (Nanjing, China) with 11 and Larissa Oliveira (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) with 10.  Both Savic and Shen only had one attack error versus the Falcons, and they both also notched a double-double with 10 digs apiece. 

As a team, UB hit an impressive .494 versus Felician with 50 kills on 89 total attacks with only six errors.

Sophomore setters Michele Santos (Campinas, Brazil) and Fernanda Silva (Brasilia, Brazil) played well in their UB debuts dishing out 18 and 17 assists respectively.

In the second match of the day versus Concordia, Biljana Savic again led the Purple Knights in kills with 15, and she had another double-double with 13 digs.  Savic also had three service aces for the winners.

Ying Shen was just shy of double-figure kills in the win over the Clippers with eight, and she also added three block assists.

Larissa Oliveira led the UB defense at the net with four block assists.

Senior Taylor McBeth (Langley, B.C., Canada), who is serving as the Purple Knights libero this season, led UB in digs with 22 against Concordia.

The UB setter tandem of Fernanda Silva (15 assists) and Michele Santos (14 assists) again played well in the Concordia match.

The Purple Knights closes out action in AIC Classic on Sunday when they face the host Yellow Jackets at 11:30 a.m. and St. Anselm at 3:30 p.m.