University of San Francisco Athletics

The University of San Francisco women's volleyball team is hosting three teams from across the nation for the 2012 Asics Powerade Challenge. The Dons will open their home season on Friday, Sept. 7 against LIU Brooklyn at 6:30 p.m. For tournament and team information, please see below. 
 
Tournament Teams:
1.     University of San Francisco
2.     Cal State Northridge
3.     LIU Brooklyn
4.     La Salle
 
Friday, September 7th
 
4:00     Cal State Northridge vs. La Salle
6:30     San Francisco vs. LIU Brooklyn
 
Saturday, September 8^th
 
10:30   San Francisco vs. La Salle
12:30   LIU Brooklyn vs. CSUN
 
5:00     La Salle vs. LIU Brooklyn
7:00     San Francisco vs. CSUN
 
All matches will be the standard format of 3 out of 5 games to 25-rally point scoring with fifth game to 15, no cap. There will be a minimum of 30 minutes warm-up time, using the schedule for the last 30 minutes of the standard warm-up procedure.  If time permits, the maximum 60 minute standard protocol warm-up may be used.  Please note as well that there will be only 3 minutes between games two and three instead of the usual 10 (unless both coaches agree to 10 minutes). There will be a 10 minute promotional break between all USF matches. The home team is listed first for team bench purposes.
 
The all-tournament team awards (6 All-Tournament with 1 MVP) will be announced at the conclusion of Saturday night's matches.   We will fax the release to all of your schools and send the awards if your team has left by this time.
              
 
University of San Francisco – The Dons are coming off their biggest win of the season and a historical game for head coach Gilad Doron as they not only defeated No. 25 California for the first time in school history, but the win marked Doron's 77th career win at USF, making him the all-time wins leader … Under the helm of Doron, the green and gold are 3-2 in their home season openers … Leading the offensive attack is Jocelyn Levig with 92 kills and a hitting percentage of .210, while Leanna Ludes sets up the attack with 231 assists to average 9.24 per set … Defending the net is Hadley Simmons with 18.0 total blocks, while Rebecca Kopilovitch as she has tallied 100 digs in 25 sets to average 4.0 per set.
 
LIU Brooklyn – The Blackbirds are 3-3 this season and have yet to play a game on their home court … The Asics Powerade Challenge marks the second Coca Cola sponsored tournament LIU will participate in this nonconference season as they went 1-2 in the Diet Coke University of Minnesota Classic earlier this year … Offensively, middle blocker Ashley Rice leads the way with a hitting percentage of .250 (41 kills, 16 errors), while sophomore setter Vera Djuric has set the ball 219 times for the Blackbirds … On the defensive side of the ball,  freshman libero Adriana Vinas Joy has recorded 96 digs, while Rice leads the way with 31 blocks.
 
La Salle University – The Explorers are 1-6 on the season, but their lone win came in a tournament on the road against Niagara, winning the game in five sets … Watch for Samantha Tulskie to lead the team offensively, as she's recorded 68 kills on the year and has a hitting percentage of .155, while Rachel Melich will help set up the play as she's tallied 118 assists on the season … It's Breanna Mazalewski who leads the Explorers in digs with 121, averaging 4.65 digs per set, while Jennifer Whelan has notched the most blocks this season with 18.
 
Cal State Northridge – The Matadors are 3-2 this season posting a tournament record of 2-2 when they played at the Wildcat Classic in Tucson, Ariz. … CSU Northridge is led in kills by junior Natalie Allen who has tallied 50 kills with just nine errors on the season for a hitting percentage of .336 … Defensively for the Matadors, senior libero Cindy Ortiz leads the team in digs with 71, while junior setter Sydney Gedryn has recorded a team-high 23 blocks in just five games.