Box Score
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The San Francisco volleyball team won its first West Coast Conference match of the 2012 season, defeating LMU in five sets Saturday afternoon at Gersten Pavilion by scores of 21-25, 25-19, 25-19, 12-25, 15-12.
With the victory, the Dons (10-5, 1-1 WCC) improve to .500 in West Coast Conference play and have now won six of their last eight matches. After sweeping Saint Mary's in their opening WCC match, the Lions (9-5, 1-1) fall to .500 in WCC play.
Freshman outside hitter Ester De Vries led the Dons attack with a team-high 19 kills. De Vries also added eight digs and one block solo to help USF to it's 10th win on the year.
Jocelyn Levig tallied 14 kills, three service aces and four digs, while sophomore sensation
Valentina Zaloznik led the Dons with a .500 attack percentage on 12 kills and only two errors.
Setter
Leanna Ludes recorded 50 assists to setup the San Francisco attack, the third time she has recorded 50-or-more assists this season. Libero
Rebecca Kopilovitch tied her season-high total of 26 digs on Saturday, which she first totaled against UC Davis on Sept. 11.
The Dons hit .269 in the first set, tallying 11 kills compared to LMU's 17. Litara Keil paced the Lions with six kills in the opening frame.
San Francisco came alive in the second and third sets, tallying 16 and 17 kills, respectively. Both Zaloznik and De Vries each collected five kills in the second set, while Levig recorded eight kills in the third frame. The Dons never trailed in the third set and were tied with the Lions only twice throughout, amassing a match-high .469 attack percentage.
After LMU pushed the match to the fifth and deciding set by winning 25-12 in fourth, the Dons clamped down. Zaloznik's kill after a USF timeout gave the Dons the final 15-12 fifth set victory and the match.
Litara Keil did all she could for LMU, collecting a match-high 24 kills to go along with a .500 attack percentage. Three Lions, led by Betsi Metter finished with double-digit dig totals, while Hannah Tedrow dished-out 35 assists.
San Francisco returns to action next Thursday, Sept. 27 as it hosts the BYU Cougars at 6:30 p.m. at War Memorial Gym.
