Box Score SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – The San Francisco volleyball team handed No. 11 BYU their first set loss in eight matches, but fell 1-3 (17-25, 25-23, 18-25, 19-25) Thursday night at War Memorial Gym.
The Dons (10-6, 1-2 WCC) lost the first set, but bounced back with an emphatic 25-23 second set victory. The second set loss was the first for the Cougars (15-0, 3-0 WCC) in 27-straight sets, dating back to their first set loss against No. 14 Tennessee on Sept. 1.
“Overall I thought we played hard, but we can clean a couple of things up,” Head Coach
Gilad Doron said. “This is probably as good a team as we'll see here this year physically and with how well they play. I have mixed feelings because I thought we played hard, but we lost, but hopefully we can learn from it and be better as the season progresses.”
Freshman outside hitter
Ester de Vries compiled a 15-kill, 12-dig double-double to lead San Francisco, while senior outside hitter
Jocelyn Levig tallied 14 kills and six digs. The duo continues to lead the Dons this season with 171 and 218 kills, respectively.
The Dons trailed for the majority of the first set after Levig opened scoring with a powerful kill to put USF up 1-0. San Francisco hit just .093 in the opening set, while the Cougars attacked at a .222 clip. de Vries led all players with five kills, while BYU's Alexa Gray paced the Cougars with four kills.
USF drew even with a convincing 25-23 second set victory. Although the Dons won by just two points, they lead the entire second set. For BYU, the second set loss marked the first time they lost a set since Sept. 1 against No. 14 Tennessee, a stretch of eight matches. De Vries continued her dominance adding six more kills to finish the first two sets with a match-high 11. In the second frame, USF hit an impressive .310 (17 kills, four errors). Both setters, Ludes and BYU's Heather Hannemann, recorded 25 assists each in the first two frames.
San Francisco fought hard in the third set, but eventually fell by a score of 25-18. Gray added four kills as BYU hit .324, its highest of any set to that point. The Dons committed just three errors, their lowest total of any of the first three sets, but recorded just eight kills.
Sensing victory, BYU took control in the fourth and deciding set, winning 25-19 to take the match 3-1. Cougar freshman Kimberly Dahl came alive, recording seven kills in the final frame, while Gray added four. Heather Hannemann finished with a match-high 55 assists.
San Francisco will now embark on a two-game road trip to face Gonzaga on October 4 at 6:00 p.m. and Portland on October 6 at 1:00 p.m.
