Box Score
SAN FRANCISCO – Despite a close first set, the San Francisco women's volleyball team couldn't match No. 21 BYU, falling to the visiting Cougars 3-0 at War Memorial Gym Thursday night.
With the win, the league-leading Cougars advance their season record to 20-4, and stand at 13-1 in West Coast Conference action. Meanwhile, the Dons move to 11-12 (7-6 WCC) on the season.
USF was paced by 11 kills off the hand of
Katarina Pilepic and
Mackenzie Murtagh's 14-assist, 12-dig double-double. Three Cougars hit the double-digit kill tally as BYU finished the match with a .376 attack percentage, compared to USF's .167 hitting on the night.
The Dons, who were riding a four-match home winning streak, found themselves in a tight battle in the first set. Â USF started with the serve and earned the first two points of the match after
Valentina Zaloznik got the point from a Murtagh set. The match would see ties at 2, 3 and 5 points apiece before BYU went on a 8-3 run to set the score at 13-8.
USF battled back to get within three when a
Malina Terrell hit off the assist from
Kiara McKibben shaved the Cougars' lead to 18-15. A 5-2 spurt by the Cougars helped the visitors finish off the set with a 25-20 victory to take the lead in the match.
In the second frame, the score stayed close in the early goings when BYU went of a 8-3 run to put the score at 12-6 after an Alexa Gray kill. The Dons came on strong and used a 5-0 spurt of their own to put within 17-15 as Terrell's solo stuff of Kathryn LeCheminant gave USF the point. The Cougars  eventually took the set 25-19 heading into halftime.
After the break it was all Cougars the visitors put together a string of seven straight to jump to a 13-3 advantage. Scoring the last five points of the night, BYU handed USF a 25-8 loss in the final frame.
USF looks to regroup against No. 8 San Diego on Saturday at 2 p.m.
