STOCKTON, Calif. – The San Francisco volleyball team battled with Pacific Thursday night at the Alex G. Spanos Center, and despite the 3-0 loss dealt by the Tigers, the Dons forced extra points in the second set and fought to the end in the third before falling on the road.
The Dons move to an overall record of 11-10, and stand at 4-5 in West Coast Conference action, while the Tigers improve to 17-5 (6-3 WCC).
"We played against a better team today – more inspired, more disciplined and we were outworked on the court," said head coach
Gilad Doron. We made some adjustments in the second game, but at the end of the day we have to give Pacific credit for how they played today. Now we've got a short turnaround playing Saint Mary's on Saturday. Hopefully we will get some quality leadership, positive contributions from everyone on the team, and the players will take this as personal challenge to be better."
USF was led by senior
Valentina Zaloznik, who powered down 12 kills on .414 hitting to go along with a match-high six blocks on the night.
Sara Staengle added nine kills and nine digs for the Dons, while setter
Kiara McKibben finished with a 29-assist, 11-dig double-double, her 10th of the season. Libero
Kim Gutierrez finished with 16 digs and two aces in the contest.
With McKibben at the serve, the Dons scored first on the evening and raced out to a 10-4 advantage. Gutierrez manned the service line during a 6-0 run that saw two assisted blocks, two aces from Gutierrez, and two kills from
Katarina Pilepic. USF would remain in front until the game was knotted at 16-all after Lexi Elman's kill off the assist from Mia Feiner. The Tigers finished out the frame with a 11-2 run to take the early lead.
The second set was a battle from the outset, with neither team able to pull away for more than a three-point advantage. In fact, the frame saw 17 ties and six lead changes. USF tied the set at 23-all on a kill from Staengle, and USF forced five set points before the Tigers took the 29-27 win.
USF played from behind the duration of the third after Pacific raced out to a 5-1 lead to put the Dons on their heels. After a kill by Zaloznik was followed by an ace and an ensuing Pacific attack error, the Dons knotted the set at 14-14. The Dons would remain within striking distance after Pilepic's strike was powered through the block and down to make it 20-19 favoring the home team. The Tigers took the set 25-21 to earn the sweep in the match. The Spanos Center again proved a difficult venue for the Dons, as USF leaves with a 0-6 all-time record against the Tigers in Stockton.
Pacific won with a trio of double-digit kill performers in Lexi Elman, Gillian Howard and Kat Schulz as the team won nearly every category on the stat sheet despite the close battle in the second and third sets. Struggling offensively, USF was outhit .283 to .124, and netted just 34 total kills on the night. Save the performance from Zaloznik, the Dons hit .033 not including the stats from senior from Ljubno ob Savinji, Slovenia.
The meeting with the Tigers concludes the first half of the conference slate. USF will take on Saint Mary's for the second time in the 2014 campaign as the Dons cross the Bay Bridge. First serve for Saturday's match in Moraga is slated for 1 p.m.
