University of San Francisco Athletics

Box Score

SAN FRANCISCO - The University of San Francisco women's volleyball team sent its seniors out in style on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Loyola Marymount Lions 3-2 in an exciting back-and-forth match.
 
The Dons' five seniors – outside hitter Alycia Cox, middle blocker Hadley Simmons, setter Leanna Ludes, outside hitter Jocelyn Levig and team manager Steven Yang – suited up for the Green and Gold for the final time, capping the 2012 season by winning three of their last five contests at War Memorial Gym on the way to a 16-13 overall record.
 
Levig lead USF's balanced attack with 16 kills, with outside hitter Ester de Vries adding 15 and middle blocker Valentina Zaloznik chipping in 11.    
 
Loyola Marymount's Kathleen Luft tacked on 25 kills to her West Coast Conference-leading tally, running her total to 459 on the season. Luft remains the only player in the WCC to average four or more kills per set.
 
The Dons opened the match by taking the first set 25-21 behind Zaloznik's five kills.
 
Loyola Marymount came storming back in the second set, never allowing the Dons to lead on the way to a 25-21 victory that tied the match at 1.
 
In the third, USF and LMU traded points in the hotly-contested set before the Dons finally pulled out a late 5-2 run to take it 25-22.
 
Loyola Marymount would not go away, however, as the Lions roared back and posted an emphatic 25-14 fourth-set victory in which, again, USF never had a lead.
 
In the fifth and final set, the Dons dropped the first point before taking a 3-2 lead that they would never relinquish. Two straight blocks by Levig put USF up 10-7 before Zaloznik's only block of the game sealed the 3-2 victory for the Dons.
 
“Obviously LMU really pushed us to the limit but I thought we played hard and when we needed to, we played smart and we played together,” said head coach Gilad Doron. “Those are the three things we pride ourselves on and today, on Senior Day, we were able to come together and play hard and play smart.”
 
USF honored its five seniors before Saturday's contest and Doron had some kind words for the Green and Gold's outgoing class.
 
“It's a very dedicated senior class, it's a group of players that helped us to get better and set the foundation for us to be better in the future,” he said. “They made us a better team and a better program in all aspects: in the community, in the classroom and on the court.”

Below are some of the highlights from the Dons' careers on the Hilltop:
 
Alycia Cox #5
In her freshman year, Cox placed second on the team in total digs with 209 while also averaging 1.20 kills per set, 2.01 digs per set, 0.50 blocks per set, totaled 34 assists. As a sophomore she posted 5 double-doubles, collected a career high of 25 digs against Portland, and ranked second on team in service aces with 21. In her 2011 season, Cox finished in the top five on the team in five major categories (kills, set assists, service aces, digs, and points. She ranked third on team with 245 digs and 2.29 digs per set. In her final season, Cox ranks in the third highest number of digs in a 3-set match recording 17 digs. She averages 1.31 digs per set tallying 110, and has totaled 3 service aces and 12 blocks.
 
Hadley Simmons #9
Simmons made her Dons debut in 2009 as a freshman middle blocker, recording an average of 1.03 kills per set, 0.83 blocks per set, totaled 16 digs and two assists, and a career high of 10 blocks in her first-ever win at Pepperdine. In her second year, Simmons was named to Miami Invitational All-Tournament team, led the Dons in blocking with 0.78 blocks per set and smashed a career high of 14 kills. Last year she ranked fifth on team with .242 attack percentage, eighth in points tallying 59. This year, Simmons totaled the fifth highest number of blocks for the Dons against Eastern Washington with six.
 
Leanna Ludes #11
A Vancouver, Washington native, Leanna Ludes averaged 5.36 assists per set, 1.61 digs per set, totaled 14 kills and 10 blocks with a career high of 39 assists against Alabama in 2009. In the following season, the setter placed second on the team with 2.36 assists per set. As a junior, she finished second on the team with 98 set assists, 69 total digs, and recorded five double-digit set assist matches and two double-digit effort matches. This year, Ludes recorded 1,012 assists (10.22 per set), good for fifth in the WCC. Ludes has taken all top five spots on the squad for assists, her best against UC Davis with 54, and 3-set match assists, her best against California with 39.
 
Jocelyn Levig #17
Levig started her career in 2011, coming off a two-season career with Oregon. As a Duck, she recorded her career high of 11 kills in 2009. Levig led her team in blocking with 0.84 blocks per set and career high of nine blocks against Seattle. As a Don, Levig tallied 255 kills and 2.45 kills per set, good for second and third place on the team and led squad in total attempts with 842 and service aces with 34. In her senior year, she recorded a match-high of 21 kills against UC Davis, Santa Clara and Eastern Washington. She ranks second in the WCC with 0.45 service aces per set and eighth in kills per set with a 3.38 average.
 
Steven Yang also graduating from University of San Francisco after his role as team manager for the past three years.