SAN FRANCISCO - The San Francisco women's volleyball team is set to host two matches at War Memorial Gym against West Coast Conference opponents. The first match is against Santa Clara, Thursday at 6:30 p.m., followed by a date with Gonzaga on Saturday at 1p.m.
After a loss to No. 25 St. Mary's on the road, the Dons (13-10, 4-6 WCC) are looking forward to being back on their home court. USF is 5-2 at the friendly confines of War Memorial Gym and are playing just their second set of back-to-back home games since conference play began.
USF Head Coach
Gilad Doron says, "It is great to have an entire home stand this weekend. We need to take advantage of the home court and the home crowd for these two matches."
The matchup against the Broncos is part of the ongoing Rivalry Week with Santa Clara University. The Dons athletics programs have or will host the Broncos in both men's and women's soccer as well as volleyball in a seven-day span to set up the Rivalry Week festivities with our oldest competitor. Entering Thursday's match, the Broncos are fifth in the conference and sport a 7-3 road record. Santa Clara (17-8, 6-4 WCC) is 3-2 in their last five matches. Santa Clara and San Francisco have yet to play this season, but the Broncos lead the overall series standings 53-10.
Gonzaga (9-15, 1-10 WCC) will be looking for just their second conference win come Saturday against USF. The Bulldogs have lost their last eight matches and the Dons look to make it nine. The last time these two squads met was in Spokane on Oct. 4. USF won the match 3-2, notching 58 kills in the victory. Freshman outside hitter
Ester de Vries led the way with 25 kills for the Dons. Saturday's match is Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day, which provides free admission for faculty/staff and their families. The match with Gonzaga is also on the docket as a Youth Free Saturday.
USF - BY THE NUMBERS:
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A tandem of Dons are in the top five in the WCC for kills, with the freshman de Vries accounting for 3.60 kills per set and senior Jocelyn Levig recording 3.50 kills per set.
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Levig's average of 0.46 service aces per set ranks second in the conference standings.
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Rebecca Kopilovitch, a sophomore libero from Israel, digs an average of 4.62 balls per set, good for second in the WCC. She has more than 800 digs in her young career, with 393 thus far in the season. As a team, the Dons are third in the conference in digs with 1299 this season, 15.28 per set.
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Senior Leanna Ludes has 825 total assists on the season for an average of 10.31 assists per set to lead the way for the Dons (No. 4 in the WCC).
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The Dons have faced fierce competition against six previously ranked teams this season (No. 7 Stanford, No. 11 BYU, No. 13 USD, No. 25 Cal, No. 23 Pepperdine and No. 25 St. Mary's). USF hasn't played more than five ranked opponents in a season since 2004 when the Dons matched up with eight teams in the rankings.
FEARLESS LEADER: Doron is in his sixth season at the helm of the Dons, where he has compiled a 86-80 overall record. Doron's 39 WCC victories rank as the highest total in program history. He became the all-time USF wins leader earlier this season as the Dons knocked off then-No. 25 California on Sept. 1.
QUOTABLE: "They are coming off of big wins to USD and BYU. They are having a great year so far. Rivalry Week always brings out a good performance in both teams." –
Doron on the Santa Clara Broncos
"They took us to five sets earlier in the month at their home court. They are a young team with a lot of good matchups. We expect a tough match when we play them this weekend." –
on the Gonzaga Bulldogs
Santa Clara - BY THE NUMBERS:
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As a team, the Broncos rank second in the WCC in service aces with 149 on the season, 1.48 per set.
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The tandem of junior Alyssa Anderson and sophomore Chelsea Heier ranks seventh and eighth in the conference in service aces with 101 and 98 respectively. Anderson is also seventh in assists with 645 on the season, 6.39 per set.
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Junior Megan Anders is third in the WCC in hitting percentage at .377.
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The tandem of Anders and junior Haley Cameron ranks ninth and 10th in the conference in blocks with 89 and 88 respectively.
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Sophomore Katy Schatzman is seventh in the WCC in digs with 247 on the season, 3.53 per set.
Gonzaga – BY THE NUMBERS:
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As a team, the Bulldogs rank fourth in the WCC in both blocks and service aces with 195 and 112 on the season, respectively.
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Redshirt freshman Savannah Blinn leads the conference in service aces with 42 this year, 0.51 per set. She is also sixth in the conference in kills with 287 for the season, 3.46 per set.
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Junior Meredith Crenshaw is eighth in the WCC in blocks with 66 on the season, 0.93 per set.
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Junior Kristina Lavrisha is fifth in the conference in digs with 327 for the year, 3.89 per set.
